First Generation

Yesterday, my friend Leo from school took me to his church in Beitou, northeast of where I live. It was a pretty rockin' place as there were only a few people there who were not teenagers. This was a Saturday afternoon and so I did not attend their service, but rather it was a reunion night as the church has just moved to it's current location after splitting off from another in an attempt to spread the faith. After a lot of introductions, a hip-hop dancing group, and a rock band performance, everyone split into different groups.
One group danced, another talked fashion tricks, and the other three taught piano, guitar, and drums with members of the rock band. I sat and talked with a man who had lived in Canada for a few years as a teenager.
Details of note:

• Less than 4% of Taiwanese are call themselves Christian
• The church I went to is on the twelth floor of a building, there is a McDonald's on the first
• Most, if not all, of the kids that go to that church are first generation Christians, which means that their parents do not believe as they do and may or may not approve
• The man who began this particular church studied in Virginia for a few years before returning to Taiwan.
  

Actually, one thing the Virginia man said sort of bothered me. Apparently, one of the groups is for practicing English, which isn't altogether a bad thing, but from where I was sitting he advertised it as a way to get closer to God by understanding "the perfect English of the Bible, with it's perfect grammar and perfect vocabulary." Last time I checked (on Wikipedia two minutes ago)(just kidding), God can speak any language and the Bible was originally translated from Hebrew and Greek anyway. Did you ever play "Whisper Down the Lane" or "Telephone"?

So, I'll probably go to a service someday soon. Leo wants me to teach him some hymns.

They Tell Me This One is Bigger Than the Last One

It's Sunday afternoon and there is a howling wind outside our little apartment in NeiHu as another typhoon, this one known as 薔蜜 (Cho Me?), makes its way across Taiwan. Another old bridge collapsed. Three were destroyed in the typhoon two weeks ago.
The main reason for the destruction is the strong winds and the unbelievable amounts of rain. A river in DanShui flooded. The lake across the street from where I am living has turned brown and I'm told that it cost at least $3 million US to clean it up after typhoon season is over.
So, we're all just hanging around the house today watching television.

I was thinking, this morning about what I should do with my weekends. The last few have gone like this: I wake up close to noon, between 11 and 12, and then it's lunchtime, after which I wonder about what I will do with the time I have until I return to sleep. I decided this morning that, in living this way, I am denying myself opportunities to practice my Chinese and my art, as well as opportunities to talk to my friends or even go outside (when there's no typhoon) and explore the area in which I live.

Politics and Why Taiwan Should Be Allowed to Join the United Nations

Right now, I'm drinking Assam Milk Tea from the 7Eleven and thinking that this post could end very badly. What I mean to say is maybe, when it comes to who should be America's next president and why the UN should accept Taiwan, I just don't know what I'm talking about.

But I want to give it a try.



So, in my mind, I'm voting for Barack Obama (Mom, where's my absentee ballot?). I cannot justify this with any surefire reasons because I'm in Taiwan, I rarely watch international news, and I use the internet only to connect with those I know and love. As a result, my reasons are idealistic and few: He's attractive, he seems to have a relatively fresh perspective on things, he's black, and maybe the only reason that is close to being substantial, the exchange students who are not from United States that I talk to here say that he would greatly improve America's international image (and in politics, it looks to me as though image is everything). I came to these conclusions during a discussion with Adam and Dave, from Austin, Texas, today over lunch.



We had started this conversation yesterday on our way to school after we met a Reverand (Rev. William J. K. Lo) who fells it is his calling from God to get the word out about Taiwan's wanting to join the United Nations under the name of Taiwan and be officially and peacefully seperate from China. He proceeded to hand out pamphlets to the five of us and Adam and I gave him our namecards. He said something about how the Chinese leaders in Beijing are brainwashing the other world powers into believing that Taiwan is a territory of China. I don't know about that, but I do agree with him that Taiwan should be allowed to join the UN in cooperation and peace. Living here makes readily apparent the reasons, both political and cultural, why Taiwan is not a part of China. For starters, Taiwan has it's own, democratically elected leaders (the president is Mr. Chen, Shui-Bian), it's the year 97 in Taiwan, which counts the years since Taiwan became a country, and there is a cultural variety here that rivals America's.

Let it be known, I have yet to visit China. I know only what my dad, school, Walt Tilley, and the media has told me, so again I fear I don't know what I'm talking about and I'm merely being idealistic in thinking that a country that everyone thinks is China or Thailand when I talk about it could ever overcome the considerable influence of the Northern Capitol, and actually be allowed to join an organization dedicated to peaceful cooperation between nations. I continue to believe, in spite of my lack of information, that Taiwan, as free as it is, will be joining the UN in the near future, and as much as the people here try to maintain order and peace, they deserve it.

So, that's the politics on this end. Can't say much about where you are, but I've heard from multiple sources that America has another problem. It's always something.

What I Said I'd Say

This is a fairly instant replay of an interesting weekend.



Friday:

I get the call, kids are going to XiMen, apparantly there's a Night Market there. I go home, change out of my uniform and I'm ready for action. Bus 284 takes me to Kunyang MRT Station and I'm estimating my arrival at XiMen station to be 6:41 PM. I'm right on time. I whip out my sweet Motorola PDA cell phone gadgetry to call everyone and let them know I made it exactly when I foresaw.

This is where the confusion occurs. Turns out everyone is at the ShihLin Tourism Night Market, there's no Night Market in XiMen. So, I'm back on the train again, have to change lines at Taipei Main Station, and eventually I arrive at the correct place where I wait patiently for everyone to find me.

Too many people. We related it to Senior Prom where there's music playing, but no room to move let alone dance. Bags, clothes, shoes, it all ran together, everything cheap, but I didn't buy anything, in my mind money's pretty tight. The only thing I bought that night was a 250NT meal of chicken, shrimp, rice, soup, greens and browns (worth every dollar), and an 18NT bottle of black tea (which I hear is bad for me). Walked around a lot, made it home okay.

Saturday:

Could have gone to DanShui, which is apparently really beautiful and near the ocean and basically an awesome place to go. Too bad my little brother had "too much homework", so we hit up the batting cages? I am not a baseball player, and I try not to pretend that I am. Of twenty baseballs thrown by lever arm I bunted/fouled five or six. We're there about one and a half to two hours, and when we get home DiDi (little brother in Chinese) is on the computer playing online baseball, I wonder where his homework went.

Sunday:

Wake up at 11:30 and must be at YongChun Station by 1:00 to meet some classmates to go shopping for a barbecue. I'm early, so I grab breakfast at one of the bazillion 711's in Taipei and wait around for half an hour. During that time I decide that, yes, I will attempt to show these kids how to make S'mores.

We get to the grocery store (a French chain called Geant) and I begin my ingredient search. Chocolate was the easiest find, as expected. Marshmallows took some finaegling, but were eventually acquired. Graham crackers do not exist in Taiwan. I substituted milk cookies, but there was no comparison.

With our barbecuing necessities in hand we headed to a nearby park. Setting-up the grills was half the fun. The charcoal was not matchlight, and one kid had to use a blowtorch in order to get the stuff to light (I have a picture). We barbecue for awhile, I pull out my mandolin and strum out some merry tunes, I hold a few conversations, we have a good time. I notice someone has put a hot coal in a cardboard box. I wonder how I should act on this information as I climb to the top of a low wall to take a picture of the goings on.

I took two pictures and then everyone got quiet. A cop had showed up, I was told later that someone had called him about the ruckus we were making and apparently we were not to be making barbecues or ruckuses in this particular park.

He let us off with a warning and the party was over. We cleaned up the huge mess we made and then we played a few games including Spin the Bottle and Do Something Dumb While People Take Pictures of You. That was interesting. An old man tapped me on the shoulder and thought I was my classmates' English teacher. I told him who I am and where I came from. He chuckled at his mistake and bid me take care. I was home by 9:00.

Chinese School and Why I'd Rather Be with the Natives

I guess it's kinda late right now, but all my days seem chock full o' stuff my supporters ought to know. Monday saw the start of my Chinese education and also an increase in my food and transportaion costs (no more pea crackers and chocolate milk). Monday was also the day that marked the beginning of being around other exchange students every morning (I'm not positive, but I think we're quickly running out of new things to talk about). In short, I'm glad that the long arduous journey of officially learning Chinese has begun, but I would rather a Sherpa guide to aid me in climbing this Everest than fifty foriegn exchange students each with his (and her) own pitfalls.
What I'm trying to get at is that I would rather be at SongShan Senior High School for eight hours than with fifty (myself included) contestants on Survivor.

In other news, I have some funny stories and neat little tidbits in store for you all which I hope to transmit when I find myself at a computer earlier in the day.

Latest Pictures with Commentary by 李墨

So, this is at the Animals Taiwan Rescue Center. It turned out to be a really good day. The guy on the right is Adam, from Idaho. Together, we cleaned and organized the garden area, where the older dogs stay, we cleaned areas affected by dog, we moved washing machines (with some difficulty in the face of a very mean-looking old guard-dog), and we cleaned the roof. Anneke help with a bunch of these things and also cleaned up the cat area. She went afraid of dogs and came away much less afraid (although that old guard-dog was really freaking me and Adam out pretty bad).

This is where the dogs stay during the day. In the afternoon we walked about seven of them. Some of the dogs only have three legs and, depending on which one is gone, they walk in a way that is slightly humorous.

Here's the whole gang: members of the Hwa Yueh Rotaract Club, including Marty Chen (in the back row with the peace sign, or V for Victory), Sean McCormack (between Adam and I), and Anneke's on the end in yellow.
For more info on Animals Taiwan the website is http://www.animalstaiwan.org

Here's me in my sweet uniform. This is also what my room looks like if you're the television. Most of my clothes now are uniform clothes.

A Few Notes

This week I've discovered some interesting cultural details of the Taiwanese.


Regarding the culture of my high school, 松山高中:


Students are responsible for cleaning the school, including hallways, bathrooms, and classrooms


Snacks can be bought between classes


Lunch is eaten in the classrooms or hallways


Teachers move to the students


It is these aspects, in my opinion, that allow studeents to take pride in their school and their education. By having to take care of the building and clean up their own messes, the students are more careful with things and don't leave so much trash everywhere.

Regarding the Moon Festival:

The general premise is that even though one may be far away from his family and friends he can look at the moon and think about how the people he is far from also have the same moon to look at.

Ways to celebrate include barbecues with friends and family (I'm going to one next weekend), parades (I heard one go by the other evening), and eating mooncake. I have good mooncake and I've had weird mooncake, so there are different recipes I guess.

The whole thing is very comforting to me because I am sort of far away from my family and good friends, but every day I grow more and more connected to this place. I'm finding that I know where things are, I know where to go, I know what tastes good and what to politely decline. I still don't understand everything, I realize I might not ever understand everything, but that does not hinder me quite as often as it has in the past.

At the School

Right now I am in the library at my school. My class is talking about DNA and RNA and I am thinking about the little adventure I am about to embark on an hour from now. If all goes as planned, the bus will take me to Taipei 101 Entrance A where I will meet Adam Kolejevich-Kotch and Anneke Kirsch to go shopping at one of the night markets here.
The names I mentioned are those of the two other exchange students in my host club Taipei-HwaYueh (means "beautiful music" because it's founder was into music). Adam is from Idaho, near Boise I think, and Anneke is from Germany, around Westphalia.
the plan is a little shoddy, taking into account the fact that we don't really know our way around the city, but we're trusting in public transportation and a little luck. I'm sure that everything will work out as Adam is very cool-headed and I have a map.

In other news, I think I should mention that I do have a chinese name now. I talked about it with my family and we came up with: 李墨. It's pronounce li moi. The "li" came from my dad's chinese name "Li Da Qi". My dad here said, "It will honor your father." "Moi" is the word for the chinese ink well and connotates poetry and art. "Nigel" means black, so we could have used the chinese for black, but my mother felt that Moi was better and carried more meaning. I tend to agree.

Anyway, I'm going back to class now.

A Sick Feeling Passes

I don't have any pictures loaded yet, but I want to tell you all about what is going on with me anyway.
Last week was the beginning of school for me at Song Shan Senior High School. I have a really handsome green uniform and I take the 630 bus from Dahu Park, where I live, to China Daily Times Square (nothining like New York) where I then take the Blue 7 to school.
Well, I went to school on Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday I got sick around 1:00 P.M. I was feeling really tired, so Huang 老師 took me to the nurse to rest.
As soon as I lied down I began to feel warm, but I slept until 4:00 P.M. and then my counselor Maggie picked me up and took me to the clinic.
So, we see the doctor. He checks my ears, nose, and throat, listens to my heart all that jazz. Says I have the "common cough". I haven't cough all day, and the only other symptom was diharrea, which he said was caused by the same virus after I mention it.
So, he starts a-prescribin'. I'm looking at a computer screen with a box that says: INJECTED THROAT thinking he's gonna stick a big needle through me larnyx. Lucky for me, the translator meant: TAKEN ORALLY.
Anyway, I eat bread and I drink water and I orally take like five different pills and think about how Eric Lutz can't swallow pills. I continue to have diharrea for the next four days, although, after seeing a different doctor with a better diagnosis, my health begins to improve.
I had weird dreams while I was sick, intricate and hard to explain, thought I'd mention it.

So, feeling better, I look at the true cause of my illness and that's mental unrest. I didn't realize how difficult it would be for me to feel comfortable here, but it's finally starting to happen.
For one thing I really owned today, it was mine, it was me.
Right now, I know I'm going to be fine here. I know the worst is over and the best is on its way. I believe, now, more in myself, and I am more willing to transform because of this adventure.

I have plenty to look forward to and I'm beginning to understand life here in 台灣.