- Cappucino
- Wearing scarves when it really isn't that cold
- Reading Dutch/Flemish books
- Cute things
- Being chill with most things (as in not taking everything so terribly seriously)
- Taking notes
- Classical music (again)
- Japanese things
- Toodling around
- Beat-boxing when I'm alone (well, even when I'm not alone)
- Not making plans
Friday, November 28, 2008
Things I'm getting myself into. A fractured List.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Ghosts
This is all gonna sound like incoherant mumbo jumbo, and you'll all swear I've gone crazy, but I have reason to believe that, in Taiwan at least, ghosts are present.
When the Filipino housekeeper first explained to me, in broken English, that she feels the presence of a spirit in our apartment, I played it off, convinced she was just talking at me. The next time she mentioned it, she had "proof". She told me how she cleans the bathroom (in what we call "the Master Bedroom") making sure that there isn't any water in the sink or hair on the floor. Everything clean, she leaves the room to work elsewhere, but when she returns, there is hair on the floor and water in the sink, maybe even more than what she cleaned up before. She emphasized to me that no one goes in there, except for her, all day, and that the room isn't drafty at all. She also mentioned that she has to struggle to close my little brother's bedroom door sometimes. Says that it's as though there was someone on the other side pulling it open, and when she checks to see who it could be, there is no one there.
I didn't really take her words very seriously at first. I blamed the wind or her very vivid imagination, especially since she's stuck inside for days at a time. It was not until a few mornings ago that I thought there might be some truth to what she keeps saying.
I woke up that morning, as muc as I didn't want to, and put on my uniform and headed into the bathroom. When I return to my room, I discovered the computer's mousepad on my bed and my pillowcase to be missing. I could explain the pillowcase (Angie had taken it to be washed), but the mousepad? I was sure I hadn't touched it. I later asked Angie about it and she said that yes, she had taken the pillowcase, but she knew nothing about the mousepad.
Anyway, I think the ghost likes me, and Mom went to the temple and stuff, so it isn't a problem.
My fellow exchange students have had similar experiences.
The thing about ghosts is the unknown. That's what people are afraid of. Not knowing what it is that is happening and not being able to get substantial proof about what you believe. I think ghosts exist in Taiwan because so many people here believe that they do. There's a lot of power in belief.
When the Filipino housekeeper first explained to me, in broken English, that she feels the presence of a spirit in our apartment, I played it off, convinced she was just talking at me. The next time she mentioned it, she had "proof". She told me how she cleans the bathroom (in what we call "the Master Bedroom") making sure that there isn't any water in the sink or hair on the floor. Everything clean, she leaves the room to work elsewhere, but when she returns, there is hair on the floor and water in the sink, maybe even more than what she cleaned up before. She emphasized to me that no one goes in there, except for her, all day, and that the room isn't drafty at all. She also mentioned that she has to struggle to close my little brother's bedroom door sometimes. Says that it's as though there was someone on the other side pulling it open, and when she checks to see who it could be, there is no one there.
I didn't really take her words very seriously at first. I blamed the wind or her very vivid imagination, especially since she's stuck inside for days at a time. It was not until a few mornings ago that I thought there might be some truth to what she keeps saying.
I woke up that morning, as muc as I didn't want to, and put on my uniform and headed into the bathroom. When I return to my room, I discovered the computer's mousepad on my bed and my pillowcase to be missing. I could explain the pillowcase (Angie had taken it to be washed), but the mousepad? I was sure I hadn't touched it. I later asked Angie about it and she said that yes, she had taken the pillowcase, but she knew nothing about the mousepad.
Anyway, I think the ghost likes me, and Mom went to the temple and stuff, so it isn't a problem.
My fellow exchange students have had similar experiences.
The thing about ghosts is the unknown. That's what people are afraid of. Not knowing what it is that is happening and not being able to get substantial proof about what you believe. I think ghosts exist in Taiwan because so many people here believe that they do. There's a lot of power in belief.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Wooah, I'm ch-changin'
Haldo again, I have about half an hour of spare time so we'll see how far I can get with this. I took my Chinese midterm today and did an awesome job. What I'm thinkin' about right now is that I'm in a cocoon. What I mean is I'm changing, I know I'm changing. I read what I wrote in my journal two months ago, look at the the state of mind I captured in writing, and then I compare it to what I wrote yesterday. The two are vastly different and the gap continues to widen. I say cocoon because I'm the only one who can notice and feel what's happening to me. Anyone who reads this (as I assume everyone is across an ocean somewhere) only remembers the catapillar (or weedhopper) that went away.
That's not to say that when I return I'll be some "beautiful butterfly". I might be some moth creature or some kind of stinging insect, you might not like me or you''ll wonder why I act a certain way that's different from how I acted before, I can't really imagine it right now, but the possibility exists. I wonder if you understand what I'm trying to say.
Whatever I am when I come back, I want you all to know that I've questioned it, put it through its paces, let it feel lonely, compared it with my surrounds and perception of the world, and finally decided it was me.
(note to dadmom: got my ballot day of election, read that it had to be postmarked by the day before, realized that it probably took more than a week to get here and would take the same amount of time to get back, decided to keep it as a souvenir of a historic election. Looks like Obama had it without my vote though. I'm really kind of sad i didn't get to to excercise my rights, but there will be other "historic elections" in the future. It's funny to me that the Taiwanese were really into watching the United States Presidential Election.)
That's not to say that when I return I'll be some "beautiful butterfly". I might be some moth creature or some kind of stinging insect, you might not like me or you''ll wonder why I act a certain way that's different from how I acted before, I can't really imagine it right now, but the possibility exists. I wonder if you understand what I'm trying to say.
Whatever I am when I come back, I want you all to know that I've questioned it, put it through its paces, let it feel lonely, compared it with my surrounds and perception of the world, and finally decided it was me.
(note to dadmom: got my ballot day of election, read that it had to be postmarked by the day before, realized that it probably took more than a week to get here and would take the same amount of time to get back, decided to keep it as a souvenir of a historic election. Looks like Obama had it without my vote though. I'm really kind of sad i didn't get to to excercise my rights, but there will be other "historic elections" in the future. It's funny to me that the Taiwanese were really into watching the United States Presidential Election.)
Monday, November 3, 2008
Dragons, Gods, and Beards on Tape
Imagine that I uploaded some cool videos from my trip to PingLin last Saturday.
This is a video of a dragon dance (chinese:舞龍舞獅-DanceDragonDanceLion). It was performed by some kids in PingLin, a town famous for its tea, which was supposedly the reason we were going there.
Actually, this trip reminded me of the Rotary outings for the Inbound Students in York, with some sort of itinerary and stuff, but then everyone has to rush through some museum or something because we spent too much timedoing something more interesting. I hope the trip in May is less hectic.
I did enjoy the hike through the tea fields on the side of a mountain. A very pastorale landscape, my only wish is that it could have been a little less rainy and depressing. I have some other videos from that trip, which I may add in here at a later date because just this first one is taking quite some time (granted, it is the longest video I took, but those kids were so cute).
So, I've been chillin' out lately, studying up for the Midterm Exam of my Chinese Class. I'm not much worried, thinkin' I'll ace it. I'm trying not to let 媽媽's compliments about my Chinese go to my head (although if anything they make me want to keep learning and not just chuck it).
http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t354/Functional_bucket/Taiwan
The above is a link to my album of photos from Taiwan. It just takes so much time to put all the pictures in this blog that I figure you can peruse them on this other website and make up stories about what a blast I'm having over here. I bought a new wallet. It's Kung-fu Panda themed and holds all my cash and stuff. I'm keeping a budget now, to figure out where all my money is going and whether I should cut back on trips to the 7-11 for drinks.
I think I change adresses soon, maybe a couple more weeks, I don't know. I've met three of my four host families so far. The next one is going to be great I can feel it.
I've lost track of what I was going to say now because my little brother here is watching WWE with the volume up kinda loud. Just a typical day.
Oh yeah, I'm seriously considering going to Australia. Here's the website about it: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/index.htm I think it would be awesome to go there and this visa encourages traveling and working only to earn money to travel. It really sounds like it would be an interesting experience. I'm weighing it against art school. Art school is losing. Any ideas about this?
Any way, I'm still waiting for that video to upload. Until next time.
The video didn't really work out.
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