Typhoons and Sleeping Pills

It's 4am, and I'm awake as though I never adjusted my internal clock since leaving the US. It's the constant roaring and howling winds, the earth-shaking thunder, and the strobe-light lightning show that is lighting up my ceiling. Only kidding. Typhoon Saola is still miles out to sea right now, but I thought I'd offer something more dramatic and exciting than 'we've been gray and rainy the last few days, with very, very mild winds and a surprising lack of thunder.'

Still, there has been a lot of commotion about what Saola might have in store for us as she? he? it? bears down on Taiwan, and in particular, the northern and eastern counties of Taipei, Yilan, and Hualien. This map showing the wave swell forecast is pretty interesting. As far as I can guess, someone takes wind forecasts from a global weather forecast model and crunches them through some algorithms to predict swell height. It's what surfers use to forecast their play dates with the sea. Yes, that's 30+ ft. swell forecast in the Taiwan area.

Today my labmate showed me some live webcam footage of the east coast shoreline (CWB, you need IE to view cams), and it was being lit up by what looked to be the everything-one-could-ask-for, glassy kind of surf. Waves ahead of a typhoon + weak winds = a recipe for magic if the local bathymetry can handle the wave. I won't get a chance to see it with my own eyes, or see as that evolves into a churning, roaring, boiling ocean, but I'll be watching via webcam as long as the camera withstands the wind.

As of now, a lot is left to chance (forecast limitations), which means a lot for a small and insanely mountainous island (ask wiki about Taiwan topography). It has already slowed it's pace in spite of many forecasts that suggested otherwise. One way or another, it's gon rain, so I think I'll cave and buy myself a $200 NT umbrella. Should be an interesting experience, perhaps even exciting for anyone around here who tends to get excited about mother nature.

 

There's something about a pink typhoon glow

Kenting

Zack: I'll get on at Hsinchu. Grab some food. You'd better have some surprises for the ride. Us: alright, we'll grab some bagels at that NY bagel spot in Main Station. And we'll have some surprises, don't you worry. Just don't miss it. Me: Sarah - we only have a bottle of wine in our room, but we have a 711 downstairs. Let's go get surprises.

Bag fills up. 711 man: wow (suffice it to say that they only sell beer in singles here, and yes, us westerners all look like alcoholics here).

Miss train. Catch next one. Special note: not stopping in Hsinchu

Beer: spill all over the high speed rail car at 300 kmph. Me: shit. Don't forget to bring a towel. Everyone in car: drunk American (they assumed I didn't understand that because they said it in Chinese, but looks tell all). NY bagels - mmmm. Zack's bagel - mmmm. Taiwan Gold Medal pils - mmmm.

Arrive in Kaoshiung (like Cow Shung)

Peter, Johnson, Zack: whoa where did you guys come from? Us: missed the 7 train, grabbed the express. Sorry Zack, missed the bagel shop in a rush to catch the train. Johnson: taxi, we need a ride to Kenting, a scooter store, one that doesn't require an intl license, and some chewing gum. Hit it. Scooter people - we'll take three. Shi shi. Bam.

Arrive at house

Alex, Cammie, and Julia: Happy birthday Pete! (party hats adorned) Have a beach, have a drink, have a barbecue. Stay a while.

 

Pliability

Sarah, Zack, and I. What a team.

Cultural shocks, as my beloved Taiwanese friend Ruby calls them, are few and far between for me lately. Waking up today, my roommate Zack and I looked excitedly at one another, knowing that we were struck with the same feeling - we are completely in rhythm with our new lifestyle. We have shed the habits that we have been living by, perhaps for years. The foods we eat, the drinks we drink, the people we eat with, the beds we sleep in, the stores we shop in...it is all new, yet it is all becoming home. I expected a much lengthier and more challenging adjustment, but I think there are a few sound reasons.

First, Taiwan is known to be very strongly westernized - the cultural rules and regulations that are so prevalent in places like Korea, China, and Japan, such as a very strongly-held hierarchy, do not have as strong a presence here. People are very approachable, and you can find someone who speaks English almost wherever you are (though things are often more fun and interesting when you can't).

Belting off Bohemian Rhapsody - karaoke, American stylee

Second, adjustment and assimilation is much easier when you are surrounded by a few compatriots...some fellow 'Mericans to confide in with the odd situations you get into throughout the day, stories of communication through sign language, etc.

Some tourists with our new friend Michael (right)

Finally, the people in Taiwan are so incredibly sweet-natured and accommodating that it is hard to find yourself being judged for your actions, whether it be language mispronunciation or just general ignorance. Be ready to laugh at yourself, but there's no shame, and certainly no judgement. The Taiwanese love to laugh and have a good time in pretty much every situation. There is a lot I am learning about how one can approach life. Perhaps their lighthearted approach is why they all look so youthful!



I'm off to Kenting tonight (see map) to help a friend celebrate his birthday and to say hello to the ocean, who I miss very much. It's quite a haul, and the scene in fact changes quite dramatically as you traverse the island, as people tell me. In this picture, southwest of Taiwan, you can also see the makings of a potential typhoon (Asian for hurricane).

Rain gear: check
Party cap: check
Sunblock: probably not

- Ja-mu-shee

Gān bēi!

There is nothing more gratifying than the first time soloing an order in a new language. Sounds simple, does it? Hello. I would like one coffee - "Ni hau. Yi ge kafe." Let's see what the clerk starts spouting at normal Mandarin pace following my unfortunate suggestion that I speak Mandarin. "What kind of coffee? What size? Hot or cold? How many sugars? Do you want a bag? Milk? Any food?"

He is disappointed to discover a nervous deer in the headlights. It begins pointing at things. Frantically turning its head in random directions. Turning red. Confused English mutterings. Uhhhhhhhh. We've lost dial tone. Finally, they walk away and improvise using what mashed up garbling of an order I've provided.

I am slowly learning the various phrases required to prevent such lingual car wrecks. I now know enough to shout a few broken statements to cover all my bases: "I would like one bubble tea. Large. Few ice. Half sugar. Small bubbles" Survival is a good motivator, especially when bubble tea is your primary nourishment. Mmmm bubbles.

First coffee order COMPLETELY in Mandarin today. A proud man I am. Tonight, this first Friday night after our first full week of work, I will test my skills by ordering a couple cans of píjiǔ.

Gān bēi!

<-- Best dumplings I've ever had, with that spicy red sauce you see to the left, and the lab mates say this spot is "okay."

Bubble Tea, Shi Shi

This past week was EAPSI orientation, which was incredibly action-packed. I happily took to being clueless about what was next and to having our Taiwanese chaperones tell us when to wake up, when to get on the bus, when to eat, and when to get up and dance or sing karaoke. Part of the orientation included three days of Chinese language training (8 hours total), which was intense to say the least. I am now very confident in saying what my name is, and just today tested the waters of ordering my very own bubble milk tea like the grownup that I am (I’ll continue to work on it).

One of our orientation expeditions had us at a Hakka village (the Hakka make up a substantial portion of the early Chinese immigrants in Taiwan), where we made and ate delicious Hakka food and learned about older ways of life in Taiwan. The way we cooked the food was pretty cool: we started with a 2’x2’ or so mud pit, and used fist-sized mud wads to create a pyramid-shaped cover over the top of the ~foot-deep hole. We then built a blazing fire inside the pit and let the mud wads heat up for ~20 minutes, then threw in meats, veggies, and eggs, all wrapped in foil. The result was magnificent. We MUST try this at home. Our yard in Fort Collins is apparently being harassed by the town for poor looks, so perhaps we should just convert it into a giant Hakka barbecue pit.

Other adventures included traditional Chinese foot massages, visits to the Memorial Hall of Chiang Kai-Shek (the 1^st president of Taiwan) and the Longshan Buddhist Temple in Taipei, and an awesome, rowdy night at the famous Shilin night market. We tried a veritable cornucopia of foods here (some of which were reminiscent of Fear Factor), which I’ll get to soon in a separate post.

The Taiwanese students that we got to know so well over the last week are some of the coolest, most charming people I have ever met, and I think I speak for the 30 or so of us westerners when I say that I feel very fortunate to have fallen into this situation. They slaved to throw us an awesome orientation, and we were all blown away by the entire experience. Can’t wait to see all these guys again, hopefully many times, over the next two months.

 

 

New Flavors

So this is what a jungle is like – tropical birds belting out, cicadas buzzing their fierce buzz all around (which I first mistook for some strange and foreign fire alarm), and heat and humidity the likes of a summer day in southern Alabama (so I’m told). What a world away from Fort Collins. Less the desire to shower every 10 minutes, the humidity is a very welcomed change.

A couple of the student organizers for our orientation week here in Hsinchu toured us around our neck of the city yesterday, which followed an intimate tour of the local university. Along this tour, Johnson and Alex (their English names, of course) took us by a serene Buddhist temple along a lily-adorned river…pretty unreal, and all attended by the junglisms mentioned above.

We found a place for lunch where we had outstanding dishes of noodles with shrimp dumplings and sides of pig ear (think fried ham – delicious), “reserve egg” (not so delicious), and some seaweed thing that looked like green tortellini. This cost me the equivalent of $3. We got a bit cocky with a lust for stepping out of our comfort zones during our first venture into the infamous Taiwanese night markets. After warming up with a few tasty chicken treats, the Taiwanese challenged us to a mix of more “local” items, which included chicken hearts, some potato-ey fish thing (we now call these fish fries), pig’s blood cakes, and stinky tofu (this is apparently a traditional Taiwanese dish). The last one tasted exactly as it sounds (and indeed smells – horrific), but the rest were actually really tasty. Success!

 

Breakfast took place in our nice, used-to-be-quiet hotel at 6:30 AM with a bunch of rowdy, off-clocked Americans high on excitement…outstanding. Now off for our first day of orientation activities (Monday morning here). Business-casual in this climate might get interesting.

Sans Band

Good morning (in Taiwan taime), and welcome to my blog. Here you’ll find reports of the earthly goings on at about 25°N, 121°E, and talk of my journey into the world of Taiwanese culture and cuisine (here’s to avoiding awkward stomach groans, painful corners, and all things BM’ery).

I am sad to report that I fly sans “band” for the present Eastern excursion – brothers Gavin and Adam are with me here in this trans-Pacific Boeing 777 in spirit only. I was quite nostalgic this morning, to say the least, when walking through concourse B at DIA and recalling the three of us gearing up for takeoff into who knew what (sanscontinent.blogspot.com). It was just a September ago. That was a fortunate one off (to under state it), and there I'll leave it.

Some background – the National Science Foundation was very kind to provide me with this trip to Taiwan under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes Program (say it five times fast now), which starts today and ends Aug. 26^th. I am preceded by friends Angela and Walter, who participated during summers of 2010 and 11 – Angela in Taiwan (with the same lab that I’ll be with), and Salty Walt in S. Korea. Stories of their experiences had gotten me antsy for wheels up, as did instructive tidbits from my Taiwanese office mate Hungjui, which all sang of the seafood, the infamous whatever-you-need-whenever-you-want-it night markets strewn about the cities, and of course the kind-hearted, immensely accommodating Taiwanese.

I am in good company for the flights, with a fellow EAPSI student hailing from CU Boulder, and having the travel buddy has been key. Tin foil meals have been succinctly satisfying, and wine minis (complements of UA) are warming. We’ve been very giddy with excitement and wanderlust thus far, but I feel my biological twilight hours slinking in, so that mood will soon wane until we get to where we are going.

We (~25 of us Taiwan EAPSI’ans) have no idea what we are getting into, but it will doubtless be a life-changing experience.

Farewell for now good friends, good family, mountain time zone, and mountain beers. You will be missed, sorely.

--James

Evening update: Just got into our hotel in Hsinchu. After midnight on Sunday, now. Everyone trickling in after the overseas haul is bleary-eyed, but we're all excited to see one another and to finally be here (with some nice beds to crash in).