Ribbon Gymnastics

Monday 20 July 2009

Here is the promised gymnastics photo. I had a long red ribbon like that when I was little, and man, those things are fun.

American Party

Sunday 19 July 2009

Another last-minute snag today - tickets to the "American Party," for United Statesian athletes and delegates, which turned out to be pretty lame. There were only about a dozen foreigners there, for one thing, and about a hundred Taiwanese people. (I had been hoping to meet some different athletes. Well, I did meet some of the sumo wrestlers.) And for another thing, there was nothing to eat or drink. Some party.

I wanted to show this particularly Taiwanese phenomenon, though. Incredibly organized groups of kindergarten children doing complex choreography is a staple entertainment at these kinds of things. And at kindergarten graduations, as it turns out. I am personally planning and choreographing a dance like this one for my class of three-year-olds right now. You know what three-year-olds are bad at? Complex dances.

Sumo

Saturday 18 July 2009

I finally got to see some of the events today! Ryan and I went to the open-weight sumo competition, and to rhythmic gymnastics (picture to come later).

"Open-weight" means that the wrestlers were not divided into weight classes, and so there were some wee ones pitted against the bigguns. This little girl, as I remember, was picked up and placed outside the ring, instead of being pushed, which gave everyone a good laugh. But there was one little girl who actually beat a much much heavier one - an interesting match.

Today was the first time I heard of skinny sumo wrestlers, and also the first time I realized that there is female sumo wrestling. There you go.

No fingernails

Friday 17 July 2009

If you look closely at the list of items restricted at World Games event, you will notice that "fingernails" is listed. There are going to be some uncomfortable spectators once they start confiscating those . . .

Opening ceremony

Thursday 16 July 2009

A shot from the World Games Opening Ceremony. I traded tickets with one of the other foreign volunteers at the last minute, and managed to get into this sold-out event. There were some other spectacular scenes tonight, but I decided to put up this one because it seemed so silly. You see, they chose different dance routines and aboriginal performances that reflect Taiwanese culture and history, which makes sense. And for one of these performances, they chose to highlight their traditional puppets, which doesn't make sense. You see, these are puppets about a foot in height, in a stadium that seats 44,000. Luckily, my seat was front and center, so I could just barely make them out.

Mini-Kaohsiung

Wednesday 15 July 2009

At work at the accreditation center again. Here is their little light-up model of the city, and some other volunteers.

City Hall Countdown

Tuesday 14 July 2009

The World Games don't start for two more days (as you could read on this countdown clock if it were clearer) but I started my volunteer work today. I will be helping at the Accreditation Center, interpreting between Spanish and English (and maybe some Chinese), and helping guide athletes and other delegates through their paperwork process. It will make for some long days over the next two weeks, but it should be fun, too!

West gate

Monday 13 July 2009

Okay, one more from the weekend.

The little town where Ryan and I stayed is called HengChun, and is famous for being the only town in Taiwan to still have all four of its original city gates standing. (They were built in 1873.) We drove around and found them all. Here is the west gate, made famous by the recent Taiwanese film sensation, "Cape No.7".

Southern Sunset

Sunday 12 July 2009

A beautiful sunset over the seas of southern Taiwan.

Ryan and the fishes

Saturday 11 July 2009

It was raining today, eliminating the chances of going to the beach, so Ryan and I headed to the KenDing Aquarium, which was AWESOME!!! They have so much cool stuff there, including a whale shark, which you can just see at the top of this huge tank here. We had a great time, along with the other 56 million people and noisy children there that day!

Temple at the end of the rainbow

Friday 10 July 2009

Ryan and I decided to head to the southern tip of the island this weekend for some relaxation. On the drive down it was raining on and off, and we saw this amazing rainbow that must have lasted about an hour. We stopped and photographed it in a few different places, but this was my favorite shot.

The Sunny City

Thursday 9 July 2009

Okay, Kaohsiung has never been known as the sunny city, and where did they find this orange foreigner, and why on earth is he holding a football?

Flags

Wednesday 8 July 2009

More World Games preparation - these flags are going up everywhere, all over the city. Almost every block has them hanging along the shops and doors.

Sandbags

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Despite being a tropical country that experiences a rainy season every single year that really ought to surprise no one, Taiwan has some major drainage issues. Meaning, they don't often build in good drainage systems. Here is our elevator, protected from the rain of the last few days by sandbags.

Getting ready

Monday 6 July 2009

The World Games are coming up, and Kaohsiung is lucky enough to be hosting them. In preparation, the city has been paving roads, sand-blasting buildings, repainting walls, finishing projects it started years and years ago (the subway is finally up!), and washing everything it can. These big glass MRT stations have been filthy since we arrived, but they got scrubbed down today - we have guests coming!

Sushi Express

Sunday 5 July 2009

We checked out a really cool restaurant today - the Sushi Express. It's a tiny bit more expense than our regular sushi place, but it has a distinct advantage. You see, the guys in the middle prepare all different kinds of stuff, and then set it on a big conveyor belt that goes all around the restaurant. You sit down at the counter, and pull off only the dishes that you want to eat. Everything is the same price, so they just count up your plates at the end. At our normal place we get a mixed plate, but here we get just the best of the best - lobster rolls and salmon and all our favorites. It's fantastic!

Improv voting

Saturday 4 July 2009

Today is Ryan's birthday, and he had a great one! It was also the final show of his Improv League, and man his team kicked butt! They really put on a great show, made everyone in the place fall over laughing, and had a fantastic time doing it.

Here are people holding up colored cards, voting for their favorite team.

Feng Shui mirrors

Friday 3 July 2009

It is not unusual for people to hang small feng shui mirrors with special markings above the entranceway to their shop or house. This, however, seems to be getting out of hand . . . .

Window from my window

Thursday 2 July 2009

This is the view from one of my least favorite after-school cram classes. The light was so pretty on it today. I love all the casual greenery of Kaoshiung.

Crossing Counter

Wednesday 1 July 2009

These little counters are so cute - the little man actually moves, riding his bike, and when it gets below 10 seconds, he starts riding faster.

Lovely evening

Tuesday 30 June 2009

Sun sets on a lovely evening in our fair city.

Electroshock Therapy

Monday 29 June 2009

Okay, so it's not really electroshock, so much as electricity therapy. I had been having a deep, dull pain in my heel for a while, and so finally went to see a doctor about it. (A crazy doctor, by the way. Wait, does that mean I let a mad doctor hook me up to electropads?) She thinks the heel pain is connected to my back, and so I have started physio-therapy to fix it. We'll see how it all goes.

This is my least favorite part, because it actually hurts. The other parts (stretching out my back, pulsing electricity on my back, cracking my back) are all quite pleasant.

Busy Door

Sunday 28 June 2009

This city is so busy. Sometimes that makes it vibrant and energetic, and sometimes it overwhelms me.

Sunny Flowers

Saturday 27 June 2009

Hotel reflection

Friday 26 June 2009

Art

Thursday 25 June 2009

And my manager still doesn't believe me that these art projects are too difficult for three-year-olds.

San Sin

Wednesday 24 June 2009

This is a very small part of San Sin, a vocational high school where I am looking at performing our fall production of Midsummer Night's Dream. This picture doesn't really do it justice - if we do our play there, I hope to get a better one later.

But this is one corner of a school which has over 9,000 students. The side I was standing on has 11 stories. I mean, this school has more people than Romeo did when I was growing up. It was HUGE and a little intimidating. The principal is basically the mayor of a small town, having to organize all of this.

Buh Puh Muh Fuh

Tuesday 23 June 2009

In Taiwan, children learn how to pronounce Chinese characters using a kind of alphabet, which is called "buh puh muh fuh," after the first four consonants. It is not used in China at all. Children's books here have the characters in them, but then the buh puh muh fuh next to each character, so if they did not know that word, the can learn how to pronounce it. (Chinese characters are not phonetic at all - if you see a new word, you have no way to know its meaning or sound.)

This sign has buh puh muh fuh next to one of its characters, but it is not in a children's book. I figure that character must be very rare, and most people would not know it, so the restaurant decided to let everyone know how to say their name. Helpful, and something very distictly Taiwanese.

Buddha on a chair

Monday 22 June 2009

Cloud heart

Sunday 21 June 2009

I don't know, now that I post this I'm not sure everyone will see it, but to me this little hole in the clouds looked exactly like a heart (on its side.)

Shui

Saturday 20 June 2009

This character means water.

Two-tone 85

Friday 19 June 2009

This building is Kaohsiung's landmark, it alone defines our skyline.

Ominous clouds

Thursday 18 June 2009

A view of the storm from my laundry balcony.

Bright windows

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Wreaths

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Outside a high school. I wish I could tell you more.

Temple in the road

Monday 15 June 2009

Yep, a temple right in the middle of the road - you drive around it, and the road joins up again behind. On HePing Road.

Cool tiles

Sunday 14 June 2009

A whole wall of tiny tiles. I really liked the color, like mother-of-pearl.

Wet red flowers

Saturday 13 June 2009

Another rainy day photo.

Jealous

Friday 12 June 2009

A gorgeous day today - it would have been such a perfect day to sit on the balcony with some hot cocoa listening to the rain. A wonderful rainy day wasted working and cleaning out the fridge.

Wet flowers

Thursday 11 June 2009

I love rainy rainy rainy rainy days.

Dark skies

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Mmmmm, I love the rainy spring here in Taiwan. It makes for such varied and brilliant skies.

Balls

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Our school has a ball pit in the play room upstairs. No, these kids aren't spoiled at all.

Baby Cookies

Monday 8 June 2009

My student Allen's little sister turned one month old, which here in Taiwan is the first milestone in a child's life. It is celebrated with cookies or cake for everyone!

I guess this comes from times when many children didn't survive their early days. Actually, there are a lot of rules and superstitions to do with first month. The mother cannot leave the house, wash her hair, cook (I don't think), and has to eat only very specific foods. Not all women follow all these rules anymore, but some still do, and giving gifts for a baby's one month birthday is always done.

Fruit Stand

Saturday 7 June 2009

Moon through the palms

Saturday 6 June 2009

Welcome bum

Friday 5 June 2009

This is the statue in our apartment building's courtyard. The entrance to the underground parking goes behind and under the courtyard, so that her bum is the sight that always welcomes me home.

JianGong at Dusk

Thursday 4 June 2009

I told you I'm into cityscapes lately. I just live in such a great place for them.

Farrah's Hair

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Okay, baby-perming update. Remember back when I was appalled that someone would perm a three-year-old boy's hair? Well, it turns out that Eugene's baby sister, one-year-old Farrah, also got a perm.

Plum Rains

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Guang Hua

Monday 1 June 2009

I've been feeling the cityscape lately, I know. But the Plum Rains are finally here, and I just love this city in the rain.