Taibei 102

Well, in yesterday's e-mail I promised more, and you know I'm a man
of my word so I couldn't help myself but write again!

Okay, so I was bored. But still, one must be somewhat impressed with
e-mails two days in a row. Plus, this one comes with a special
surprise! What you ask? Well, it's multimedia! That's right,
assuming everything works right, just follow the link below for a
short slideshow of pics from Taiwan to accompany all my crazy tales.

http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/com.hp.HPGuestLogin?
username=juntis&password=67792772

And on to the heart of the matter. A lot has happened in the two-odd
weeks since I wrote that first e-mail to talk about. Around Taibei I
have seen a few more sights, including the Chiang Kaishek (CKS)
Memorial with accompanying National Theatre and National Concert
Hall, the Shilin Night Market, the jade and flower markets, the
Palace Museum, spent some time in book stores, gone to a tea house,
and have generally wandered the hills behind our campus looking for
poisonous snakes. Outside of Taibei I managed a daytrip down to
Taizhong to visit my Chinese professor from Whitman who was on
sabbatical last year, and up to Qilong (aka Keelung) for a trip to a
petrified beach, and even ventured up Yanming Mountain to see
Taiwan's volcanoes.

A group of six Americans studying here went and saw a dance
performance at the Experimental Theatre in the National Theatre a few
weeks ago. It was based off Eileen Chang's literature, and though it
was well done for the most part, the first half was a little
strange...and that's coming from the guy that was a pregnant lesbian
in his last dance performance. I think that it might have helped to
understand some more of the Chinese. That or perhaps having a better
familiarity with Eileen Chang, for the part in English didn't make
that much more sense: 142 Hollywood Ave, Pasedena. 425 Orange Grove,
Pamona. 164 Ceder Hill, Hollywood...

The night market was also an adventure. I managed to only buy a new
bag and these crazy Puma flip flops. The flip flops are crazy
because they are each a semi-circle, so when you're standing on them
you look like you're on a landing pad or something. I also tried the
previously mentioned octopus ink sausage as well as something called
chou doufu, or stinky tofu. I'm not yet a fan of the latter--it
really smells bad--but I've heard it's an acquired taste.

Qilong was also quite enjoyable. We went and visited a rock
formation that was just incredible. It's pretty much all sedimentary
rock, sandstone, so it looks like you're sitting on a beach, but it's
really just rocks! We ate some more crazy things there including
a "nutritious sandwich," which was essentially a fried stick of dough
stuffed with sweetened mayonnaise, sausage, and a pickled egg. It is
here that I tried the blood rice as well. And for desert, first it
was cherry tomatoes dipped in caramel, followed by ice with red
beans, and small green tea flavored rice dumplings (they look kind of
like gnocchi). It definitely helped cool me off.

And that is a necessity this time of year. I don't even think it's
the hot season yet, but damn, it's hot. Yesterday weather.com was
saying that it was 98 out, but felt like 108 with the humidity and
whatnot. We don't yet have AC in the dorms, which is unfortunate.
They are installing it, but rumors are it won't be done until mid- August (just in time for me to leave...).

Classes, though early in the morning, are generally good. I have
four Japanese students in my class (whose accent is tougher to
understand than I expected, even in English), a Korean, a Brit, and
me. Since I only have class for two hours everyday, I actually
mainly just spend my time reading. I've got five books down so far,
and am on to number six. Something about making up for four years of
forced reading methinks.

Well, that pretty much brings us up-to-date methinks, so it's time to
say goodbye. I hope all of you are properly enjoying your summers!

Jeff

Fun Facts (and this time it is even Friday!)
6- The number of varieties of poisonous snakes in Taiwan including a
rattler, several vipers, and a cobra.
20NT$- The cost of my new favorite beverage, bubble tea, here on
campus.
77.5- The average number of pages of pleasure reading I've done per
day since my arrival...and I haven't been reading every day.