颱風來

颱風來...Typhoon's coming. School and all outdoor activities are preemptively canceled for tomorrow, simultaneously robbing me of my last day at Hanmin; Fulbright's planned zongzi-making party (also at Hanmin, but with all the ETAs invited); dinner with Alison, Maggie, Fiona and Patty; and Qingshan's 6th grade graduation (which is being rescheduled, but which now seems to conflict with our dragon boat races, should they actually take place).

The unfortunate part is that I can't even get upset at the system: they're not overreacting. We're about to be hit by Typhoon Talim, which is coming up along the West Coast; this, I've been told repeatedly, is NOT GOOD. Typhoons usually hit Taiwan's more exposed East Coast, thus running into the mid-country mountain range and slowing down before passing over to the much more densely populated West Coast; when they hit on The Side with the Cities, so I'm told, is when problems happen.

Oh, and we're actually getting off easy with Talim: just a few days ago, Taiwan looked like it was going to be hit on both sides, by Talim and Guchol. Thankfully (for us, at least), Guchol swirled off towards Japan, where it is now assailing Analicia's mom in the worst-timed way possible (she's flying from the States to Taipei with a stop in Japan, meaning she will very likely be impacted by both typhoons on her journey).

To the left: Talim. To the right: Guchol. In the middle: Taiwan.

So, we're all pretty much under house arrest for tomorrow. Well, I had been lamenting my lack of experiencing a typhoon while I was here...after all, as Margaret told me, typhoons and earthquakes are Taiwan's natural products! Had to experience both, or I hadn't really lived here.

In other typhoon news, a friend request and follow-up message from one of my favorite 5th graders finally broke my resolve and reminded me that it was about time I made good on my promise to my students that they could be my Facebook friends after I was no longer their teacher. Within minutes of my approving my many pending requests, the following photo showed up on my timeline:

Note the eyes that say "why am I doing this?" and the feet that say "I did karate for six years!"

...and promptly received a deluge of "like"s from friends back home. Further exploration of the album in which I had been tagged (thankfully, just in this one photo) revealed that my fears about presenting awards at graduation had been fully justified, as there now exist multiple pictures of my back, bowing to the students. Oh joy.

And here, buried at the bottom of my post because, again, I'm in denial, today was my REAL last day teaching at Hanmin. I came in for one period in the afternoon, during which Alison and I taught a group of 1st-5th graders from a school in the outer county areas of Kaohsiung our 3rd-4th grade Morning English lesson. And that part was really fun--the kids were enthusiastic and our goal was mostly just to give out free stuff. Then Alison and I went out for a coffee, and that was really fun, too!

Then the typhoon began blowing in. And I realized I should probably act as if it was my last day at Hanmin. And I cleared out my locker, and my desk, and left a note for next year's ETA. And now my desk looks quite desolate and depressing...

Yesterday..

Today. :(

...and I now have a bone to pick with a typhoon. 

Double Take

We awoke this morning to the sound of birds chirping and ocean waves crashing outside our room. We opened our eyes, ready for what must surely be a blissfully blue-sky day—and were greeted with an interminable cloud bank.

“Well, that’s not so bad,” I told myself. “At least it’s still warm outside!”

We stumbled downstairs to breakfast (scrumptious Western-style mini pastries with butter and jam, a hot boiled egg, and our choice of coffee, tea, or milk—guess what I chose) and learned that, in fact, it was warm—ish. A light sweatshirt still didn’t feel amiss with my shorts.

Oh well. Melanie and Alex soon joined Rachel and I in the breakfast room, and we had a nice long chat while we ate, then changed, checked out, and headed out to the tidal pools off the beach below. After a cursory view of the standard path (which was, in typical Taiwanese fashion, a true path, of rocks innovatively held together by rubber meshing), we ventured further afield, to the rock outcropping against which the blue-green waves were breaking.

As we wandered further down the shore, we happened upon a strange sight: a couple we’d met in Kinmen! Yes, that’s right, an American couple from Kaohsiung who happened to be staying at our homestay in Kinmen also happened to be visiting the same beach as we were in Taitung, and at the same time. The irony of this, of course, is that we’ve never actually seen them in the city where we all live—but we do seem to have similar instincts when it comes to breaks!

12:30 found us at the ferry terminal a full hour early, thanks to our overeager taxi driver. But the upside of that was that we were among the first people on board, and so had our pick of seats in the stabler middle back of the “Barf Barge” I’d braved before. The weather outside was worse than last time we took the ferry, which made me nervous (though mutely so—couldn’t help anything!), but as it turned out that, wind and choppy appearance aside, the seas were deceptively calm, and the hour-long ride was uneventful for all of us, even with three of us attempting it sans medicine. We weren’t exactly ready for a 10-course meal when we stepped on shore, but you can’t have everything.

A very short shuttle ride later, we arrived at our hostel/homestay/hotel—don’t really know what to call it—and about an hour later they gave us the keys to our price-included scooters. We made a nice little loop of the island, stopping off at key points I’d seen with Mom like the Civil Liberties Memorial (which I had no idea was called that until several hours later when we saw it on a postcard; we just stopped for the view), the Sleeping Beauty rock, and the beautiful Scottish-looking fen-covered point by the hot spring where we saw some (very annoyed) wild goats.

For dinner, we twisted Alex’s arm into agreeing to Taiwanese stir fry, which was so so good: Green Island’s signature venison, beef and veggies, kung pao chicken, fried noodles, empty heart vegetable, rice. I’d been craving food like that for a while, and it did not disappoint. A quick Family Mart and tea shop stop later, we returned to our rooms to “take a rest,” as the Taiwanese have it, before our night tour.

And the night tour, oh, the night tour. It was SUCH the experience! I was wishing my mom and I had been able to make it, as we stopped to observe the local wildlife in every ecosystem the island has to offer, along with Ray and Elba, two of our fellow homestay-ers from Shanghai who speak fantastic English, and two other random guys who joined up with us somewhere along the way, but who I don’t think are actually staying here. We saw all the local flora and fauna, shared some lovely moments talking about the appropriateness of our footwear, and then set out, at around 10pm, for the Zhaori Hot Springs.

There followed an hour and a half of warm saltwater bliss.

And now we’re back, and Internet-less—I’m typing this in a Word document, despite Ray’s wireless connection showing up on my list—and need to get our rest, given that it’s almost 1am and breakfast is at 7, followed by snorkeling at 8.

So ends my second attempt at Green Island—still not a tropical wonderland, but now sickness- and driving rain-free, filled instead with good food, good friends, and good fun (to borrow the cliché). Now to close my eyes and pray once again for a fresh start that involves a blue sky…

Hurry up and sit

We had precisely one thing on the agenda today: get back to Kaohsiung. We had had enough of the wind, the rain, the cold, and, to be honest, Kinmen itself, and we were eager to drop off our scooters and board our 12:15 flight back home.

But things were not to be that simple.

Our home-stay owner gave us directions back to the Nissan dealership before we left, and all went smoothly as we stopped at a 7-11 familiar from our first night's drive for a supplementary breakfast (the home-stay offered just plain noodle soup with cabbage, hardly filling). From there, we set off back down the known road to a known roundabout, and turned right. Then came back to the roundabout and went straight. Then came back and turned left. We then gave up and called the scooter place, who said they would send someone to come guide us back, so we spent a good 15 minutes just sitting on the side of the road on our scooters, me thinking all the while about whether it would be worth it to take off my mask and drink my 7-11 coffee while it was still hot, or if doing so would just end up cooling it down more and end in spilled coffee on the rest of our trip. (I refrained.)

We did finally make it back to the dealership, and they offered to drive us back to the airport, though they were perplexed by our desire to get there so early. But, beside our cumulative training in getting to airports earlier than needed for flights, my basic thought process was that it had to be warmer there than in the dealership. (It was.)

Still, we arrived at the tiny airport a good hour and a half before our flight, so we sat at a little cafe overlooking the runway and had some coffee/tea/cheesecake/pasta (depending on the person) while we waited, finally strolling through security 10 minutes before our boarding time.

Except that our boarding time turned out not to be our boarding time. About a half hour late, we boarded the plane amidst a cloud of fumes, sat down, got comfortable, and were then herded back off the plane, with the promise that we would board again in a half hour. By the time we boarded what I took to be a different plane altogether and took off, we were at least an hour and a half behind schedule, which meant we had been at the airport waiting in the cold for roughly 3 hours.

Needless to say, we were thrilled to see Kaohsiung appear through our windows, and to step off the plane into a climate where we could strip off our outer layers and enjoy a bit of sunshine.

加油 Brittany!

I awoke this morning before the alarm went off to the sound of Brittany shuffling around in the dark, then pushing through the heavy wooden doors of our room. I curled up tighter beneath the cover. A few minutes later she returned, and decided 5:30am was late enough.

By 6am, we were all suited up in multiple layers: a tank top, two t-shirts, a long-sleeve shirt, a scarf, a sweatshirt and a raincoat for me, plus jeans and two layers of socks, all beside my requisite knit gloves and Taiwanese face mask. The necessary blue plastic 7-11 poncho and a helmet completed the outfit, and we set out through the rain and the wind towards the race.

After dropping Brittany off at the entrance, getting gas, dropping Karina off with Brittany's stuff, finding a parking spot, walking to the university, finding Karina again, and walking up to the entrance to the school, on a hill overlooking the starting line, we discovered something: there was absolutely no way we could see Brittany in the mix of professional African racers (many of whom got an artificial head start, thanks to a misunderstanding), the pro Chinese and Taiwanese racers, the amateurs of every race who still cared, and the hundreds upon hundreds of racers sporting umbrellas. Oh, Taiwan.

When we were assured that everyone (and, therefore, Brittany) had passed the finish line, we went inside the university--out of the rain and wind, though not the cold, thanks to the joys of outdoor-indoor architecture here--to wait for Brittany to finish, snack on Doritos and nuts, and play "would you rather."

About an hour later, we wandered back into the conditions and to the finish line, where we stood beside a group of clearly co-opted high school cheerleaders performing half-hearted dance routines to classics like "We're All in This Together" as nobody watched, and we cheered for everyone crossing the finish line.

"加油!"

When Brittany finished, we strolled back to our scooters, cheering everyone along the way, to the bemusement of the Taiwanese walking alongside us and, as our home-stay lay back along the race route, took a roundabout way back which still managed to loop alongside the runners, whom we continued to cheer on until we got back.

Without any discussion, we then locked ourselves in our room and beneath our covers, and proceeded to take an hours-long siesta-and-James Bond-movie-marathon session. We were finally roused from our cold-induced stupor by a call from Nick inviting us to join him in visiting the small island offshore. We didn't join him, but we did re-suit up--added a layer of pants to my ensemble--and head back out on our scooters, this time checking out the scenic drive, the Triangle Fort, and then looping back to the shopping area we visited yesterday to buy a few last-minute souvenirs.

While there, we ran into Evan, Miles, John and Jason, and hung out with them as they had some 豆花  (douhua) and squid balls before they headed back to 厦门(Xiamen). We said goodbye and crossed the street to Jessica's, where we ate yesterday, for dinner.

We made a final stop at 馬山(Mashan), where we had just enough daylight left to find the old escape tunnel and walk down to the end, where Karina and I got a glimpse of patrolling Taiwanese boats and the near shore of China.

Still cold but finally coping, we scootered back to our lovely home-stay, where we now sit again, huddled under the covers and watching TV. It's been a good day, and I'm glad we got to be here to cheer on Brittany--and the rest of the un-cheered racers. But you can take me back to warm Kaohsiung now, please!

Cold and Wet

(Another Sunday retrospective.)

It was like Kenting all over again. Windy and wet, and, as an added bonus this time, cold--oh so cold, especially on a scooter. We layered up--t-shirts and sweatshirts and rain coats, that is--but still, our first drive out was miserable: hands numb in the wind, face and eyes stung by the rain, turned to stinging pellets by the velocity at which we were traveling. To make things better, we got lost.

Eventually we flipped around and headed for an emergency 7-11 run, where I slapped down about $10USD for appropriate Kinmen driving gear: knit gloves, the ever-present plastic poncho, and, in the first time I can remember actually wanting to use one, a heavy-duty face mask. With Karina's borrowed sunglasses to top it off, I was set to drive.

Which was a good thing, since it's primarily what we did. We first tracked down National Quemoy University, where Brittany was going to run, and picked up her registration materials. There, Rachel saw fit to lose her ATM card to the BOT machine, inspiring a series of phone calls to the company and Fonda which ended in us leaving to come pick it up later.

From there, we followed a local into town to the cultural shopping district, where we wandered around looking at their emblematic knives made of old artillery shells--as the closest outreaching of Taiwan to China, this place has seen a lot of shelling--and stone lions and peanut candy and beef jerky, the latter two purchased from a very nice lady we spent a while chatting with, we met up with Nick and wandered into a nearby restaurant called Jessica, which was oddly decorated in a combination of Chinese and Taiwanese national emblems--uncomfortable to say the least, given the political history here.

We decided to see more of the island then, and set out to see Kinmen's other famous product, Kaohliang Liquor. We went to the factory, where we learned that they do not have a factory tour, so we just looked around at the showroom and then took off again, first to meet Nick's friends, Evan, Miles, John, and Jason, and leave our souvenirs with them, then off to see a beautiful and beautifully-lit cave system near the sea. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Next it was back towards town, where we found Nick's friends eating an early dinner at another 7-11. We joined them in sitting around, chatting and eating for a while, then we headed back towards our home-stay, though first grabbing a 7-11 dinner (for me, yogurt, nuts, juice, and a Snickers).

Then, as Brittany, Rachel and Karina insisted on watching a horror movies regarding living killer ventriloquist dummies, I re-watched a few episodes of The Office and How I Met Your Mother on my computer, and we had another early night, trying to conserve heat and preparing for a very early morning, one which promised to be, if possible, colder and wetter than this one.

Nissan and Fried Chicken

I'm writing this on Sunday, so I'm just going to go ahead and give the highlights and necessary details.

We flew out of Kaohsiung Friday afternoon around 4pm, and I realized that it was my first time back in the Kaohsiung airport since I arrived here in August, and the first time ever that I've seen Kaohsiung from the air when I actually knew what I was looking at. I had fun catching glimpse of Qingshan as we took off, and look down at Cijin; Karina even caught a glimpse of her apartment from the plane window. Great fun.

When we arrived at Kinmen, we randomly ran into Nick, a friend from Taipei, and learned that he had a whole group of friends coming from the mainland for the race. We agreed to meet up later, then hopped in a car with our arranged ride whom we assumed would take us to our home-stay, but who instead took us to...a Nissan dealership. We piled out with our bags, and learned that we were renting scooters here, now, luggage and check-in aside.

We hopped on our scooters to discover that Kinmen is cold this time of year, and we still had halfway across the island to drive before we could go inside, and had to eat before we got there, since there was nothing near where we were staying. We found a wannabe KFC joint (you know, typical Kinmen food and such) and ordered some chicken while we tried, unsuccessfully, to give Nick directions to where we were. We gave up when we realized he was a good 10km away from us.

After the chicken saleslady led us to our home-stay--a GORGEOUS traditional house inside the cultural village here--we settled in and met our co-inhabitants, some Kaohsiung-dwelling Americans who work at Morrison Academy and who were also going to run the race. Also, our home-stay has no inside heating, and is, indeed, half outside itself.

After that, it was trying to keep warm and an early bedtime for us.

Weather

And, just like that, Kaohsiung's back to feeling like Kaohsiung: sticky and warm. Not to worry, though, I'm not complaining--it feels nice at this point (like a more humid version of September in the Northwest), and maybe I'm imagining things but I'd swear my kids were better behaved today than they've been in months. Maybe there's a connection?

But, in our typical fashion, now that it's nice in Kaohsiung, my apartment plus Karina and Ashley (an ETA from last year who's still living here) are jetting off to Kinmen (金门,pronounced Jinmen but spelled with a K; I have no idea why) for the weekend. And, according to the forecast, it'll be rainy and cool--like it always is when we travel. My personal raincloud strikes again.

Typing that it'll be "rainy and cool" in Jinmen makes me smile; my 6th graders at Qingshan today honed their weather-describing skills; I pulled up a world weather map and had them pick countries to learn the names of and to use to ask about the weather. Fun choices included Greenland, Iceland, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, and Russia, in addition to the more standard picks like Canada, Korea, Australia, and Japan. (I told them they couldn't pick Taiwan.)

So our class consisted of this:

"How's the weather in Russia?"
"It's cold, rainy and snowy in Russia."
"How's the weather in Sri Lanka?"
"It's hot and stormy in Sri Lanka."

And how's the weather in Kaohsiung? It's warm and sticky, with a perfectly blue sky dappled with clouds and air new-cleared by the rain. And I'm loving it--for now.

Hibernation:

It's not just for bears anymore. And, for that matter, it's not just for places with actual seasons anymore.

See, hibernation is really the only way to explain my current lethargy: it's winter! It's natural! No matter that it's in the 60s and 70s outside (Fahrenheit), no matter that S.A.D. positively CANNOT come into the conversation here, it's still winter, and my West Coast-bred body knows it simply must curl up with hot chocolate and a good book, then take a long nap, whether or not the weather confirms it.

In Seattle, I'd be sitting home with a blanket and something hot to drink and reading or watching TV, so here I sit home with a blanket and something hot to drink and read or watch TV. In Eugene I'd begin each day wrapped in several layers, so here I start the day in several (admittedly much thinner) layers. It's just the way it works, I guess: in a temperate climate, winter is our natural time to take things slowly; even here, where there's no need for that to be the case, I can't stop my natural urges.

And who'd want to, really? They're such lovely urges, though they are at odds with my semi-pronounced New Year's resolutions. Still, it's timed up quite nicely with our upcoming Chinese New Year break, and so long as I'm able to get my fill of hibernation when I'm actually able, maybe my body will realize that it's in a tropical climate now, and the weather has never been better.

And maybe then I'll leave hibernation to the bears.

Into the Wind

Today I boarded a bus for Kenting, Taiwan's coastal paradise; to the city which is named "eternal spring." I was super excited to finally get a taste of a tropical beach, since I have never before in my life been to an ocean warm enough to get into, or blue enough to see through. I was thorough in my packing--grabbed my 30 SPF sunscreen, two swimsuits, shorts, sundress, sandals--and, just in case, a rain coat and tennis shoes. I was ready for a beach unlike that in the Pacific Northwest--one that did not involve wind and rain.

But, as it turned out, wind and rain is what I got.

I pictured this (actual picture of Kenting from the Internet)

And got this (actual picture of Kenting from hostel window. Note the raindrops)

The whole trip down to Kenting was overcast-ish outside, but could still see patches of sun, and I grew more and more excited as I saw the coastline appear and realized that, when I got out, it would still be warm.

Then we got closer. Right around 5 minutes beforehand, it started raining. And it didn't stop. I put on my raincoat before we stepped outside, and then began the sprint for the nearest 7-11 so Brittany, Rachel, and Karina could buy ponchos. And I discovered that my thinking ahead was actually not the best of plans, since they were now better covered than I was. Which became a big regret as our taxi driver couldn't find our hostel and we wandered back and forth within a few blocks of it for a while asking people before we finally found it--and my stuff, and everything not covered by my raincoat, was soaked. Around this time, the rain began going sideways.

By the time we were in our room, the wind was gusting against the screen door and I was wondering how we could possibly do anything. Did I mention that a typhoon recently just missed Taiwan and hit Hong Kong instead? Turns out these are the edges of it. Today I've felt exactly like I'm at the Oregon coast--all wind and rain--but with the thermostat turned up about 40*. Very odd, yet oddly homey. Wind and rain: normal!

So with that wether, naturally, we rented scooters and headed for the beach!

And oh yeah--when our hostel owner drove us to get the scooters, he got pulled over. Seriously, this day was shaping up to be a combination of the least likely events ever. Rain and wind in Kenting? Check. Police involved? Check. What next?

Still don't know what they wanted...

The beach was not quite doable, so after lunch (delicious Italian), we decided to do some shopping, then head up to the Southernmost point of Taiwan and see the lighthouse there around sunset. But there were...complications, beginning with the marginal typhoon-strength wind. Driving a scooter in driving rain and wind is somewhat less than fun, and then Rachel and Brittany, who were leading, went past the turn-off for the Southernmost point, and then up an unprotected mountain. It had a GLORIOUS view, but Karina and I turned back--it was impossible to keep a straight line.

And we headed back to the Southernmost point! It was wonderful, and the winds were actually a boon there--high winds equal high waves which are beautiful to look at. Then the lighthouse, where we met some roving dogs who were also watching the sunset. Rachel and Brittany eventually made it back, and while we waited for them by the lighthouse, we were guarded by an adorable little golden dog, who reminded me of the cat in The Horse and His Boy, when Shasta is by the tombs. (If you don't get that reference, you're probably more normal than me, but you'd best go read that book.)

Trail to the Southernmost point

Looking south at the tip

LOVE the waves in the wind!

Eluanbi Lighthouse

Sunset. :)

On the way back, we stopped through at the Kenting night market, which had filled with people who had materialized out of nowhere--the streets were all but empty earlier today--and had a bit more shopping time. Tried on numerous hats, none of which quite worked, and bought a sweet travel coffee mug with Taiwan stuff on it, and--of course--watermelon milk. I have to say, too, that Kenting night market is a bit of a nightmare: a bunch of people at a market are annoying no matter what, then add in the vacation aspect, and it's not good. Still great time, though.

This doesn't even begin to cover the epicness of the day--I'll do more later. But the wind is still beating on our door, and we're getting up early tomorrow to enjoy what will hopefully be a less storm day in Kenting, so that's it for now. Turns out the "eternal spring" in Kenting is currently stuck in April, with no chance of May.