Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Springing It Up
I've decided the blog here was suffering from a serious case of the February bleaks, so I've punched up the color. It's still not as colorful as I had hoped (I could not find a suitably sunshiney yellow), but it's an improvement. You all can register your approval or disapproval in the usual manner with the usual lack of bindingness. Not much is going on here, we attended the local Lantern Festival which was rather sedate. I should have some pictures up at the end of the week or so. Ellie leaves for Hong Kong tomorrow to apply for another visitor visa so she can stay for another two months (and work illegally). She's nervous because the last teachers who did that were held in Hong Kong for five days before being approved. Apparently being stuck in Hong Kong just doesn't appeal to her. I keep reminding her of the bright side, being deported still means going home (well, to Belgium at least). Don't worry too much about her, her grandfather has made "arrangements" with his "Italian" business acquaintances in case of trouble. (That's really how she said it too, though "Sicilian" is more accurate, if we're going to be pointing fingers.) Besides, those are the best "arrangements" to have--they work!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
BREAKING NEWS--I'M IN--WITH MONEY!!!
This just in--Boulder says yes!!! They want me to come to their graduate program. So much, they're offering financial support. Multiple forms of financial support. I don't know how good it is, but I think they might like me. I'm just so relieved it wasn't a rejection. That I could have dealt with, except this was in an e-mail and from a person named Stormy. Rejection is a fact of life, but being told you're not good enough to make the cut by a person named Stormy? That's just too cruel.
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Rise and Fall of a Great Beard
Paul finally broke down and purchased himself a razor (the first such purchase in 8 months--and no, disposable razors do not last that long, even four of them) after much forgetfulness on the part of his wife and what happens? He decides to renounce shaving completely and embrace his inner woodsman. It's been exactly two weeks now and I must say, the beard is coming along nicely. I don't know how long it actually takes to grow a fabulously full beard, but it seems on-track. We're well out of the out of pokey hedgehog stage, so that's nice. I really like it right now, but I guess we'll see how everything looks when it's done. I don't want any crumbs getting caught. I'll try to take a picture, but you know how elusive the Paul can be. I might have to ambush him while sleeping. It's mean, but you should all be able to gaze upon the growth (in wonder, no doubt) yourselves.
Addendum:
Sadly, there will be no pictures or full beard, for it met an all-too-soon demise today. Our boss didn't feel the love, despite ILP's previous assurance that they were down with beards. The fates continue to conspire against facial hair, as Paul has been beardless by force (of grooming standards) for the last seven years between the mission, BYU, and now Taiwan. Is there no rest for those weary of shaving?
Addendum:
Sadly, there will be no pictures or full beard, for it met an all-too-soon demise today. Our boss didn't feel the love, despite ILP's previous assurance that they were down with beards. The fates continue to conspire against facial hair, as Paul has been beardless by force (of grooming standards) for the last seven years between the mission, BYU, and now Taiwan. Is there no rest for those weary of shaving?
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Someone ate my Pickles and Messed with my Ginger Ale
Someone ate my pickles and messed with my ginger ale. I'm not pointing any fingers, but only one other person in this house has a jar of pickles--a jar that has remained suspiciously full--and my ginger ale is woefully lacking in sugar. (Never thought I would complain about that.) J'accuse you, Swcheppes Australia Ltd.!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Alas!! They Were So Sacrificial!
Paul and I boldly sallied forth today to visit Tainan, a city an hour-and-a-half away by train. It was mainly Paul's doing since I was sick and grumpy after three-ish hours of sleep (yeah, not good, but not my fault. I went to bed at a near-to-reasonable hour. If my body refuses to sleep, that's its problem).
Our first stop was the Confucian Temple complex, which was very nice. It was well-preserved and run by adorably friendly people (they gave us an extra map). It was the only Confucian temple where I've ever since people worship. There was a little musuem in the outlying buildings with artifacts, pictures, and English explanations. Paul was really put off by the animal sacrifices. Apparently, Tainan celebrates Confucius' birthday with a big ceremony that includes the sacrifice of a cow, goat, and pig. Paul wishes to mention that the pond in the complex had swimming turtles in it, not turtles just chilling on logs or whatever, but actually swimming around. They were cute.
After that, I was a little cheerier and Paul talked me into stopping at Lily Fruit Shop, where we got a bowl of shaved ice topped with passionfruit syrup. Here's a rare picture of a smiling Paul at the shop. (It's rare to see a picture of the elusive Paul, not that it's rare for him to smile.) We continued on to the South Gate, which was fun and had a random collection of steles. My favorite was one commissioned by the town's salt merchants to thank the magistrate for releasing emergency salt after some ships sunk in a storm in 1784. Here, we met an elderly woman (80s) who was amused to see us foreigners reading signs about monuments we couldn't read. (I know this, because she said it to us in Chinese.) She was sweet, but what was distinctive about her was her feet. The first thing Paul said when we were out of earshot was, "Did she have bound feet?" I agree there was something unusual about her feet in both small size and uncommon shape, but I'm fairly certain anyone who ever had bound feet in Taiwan is long dead. It was at any rate an unexpected sight and while admittedly fascinated, I didn't dare to look for too long, lest we be caught staring.
We bravely walked on to the Temple of the Five Consorts, which was Paul's favorite temple of the day. It's dedicated to the five wives of the last king of Taiwan, who committed suicide after learning that he had committed suicide in anticipation of losing his throne. The temple was small, but had a lot of open ground (green space is very rare here and usually found as part of a temple's grounds) and a beautiful little flower garden. The second memorial (the first is in the South Gate's collection) to the women praised their virtue in such exaggerated moralistic tones, it was unbelievably over-the-top in English. The title of this post is a direct quote from the memorial. The last line was "The effects of their good virtue will eternally spread." The whole site had the appearance of someone's pet project. (A smaller related shrine was getting all of its interior decoration replaced and had a pad for kneeling--very unusual for such a small public shrine.)
We got a little lost after that, but my mediocre Chinese and Paul's navigational skills pulled us through and we were eventually able to find our destination of Koxinga's Shrine. Paul argued that since it was built in 1967, it really couldn't be considered a historical site. He's right, but I'm glad we went because the decoration on it was lovely and they were getting ready for a big festival to be held there next week, so everything was being repaired and painted. It also had nice grounds, though no flowers.
Across the street was the Lady Linshui's temple, which was the second-best temple we've seen in Taiwan. (Longshan in Taibei is still the best.) It was packed with families (Lady Linshui and her helpers are dedicated to helping women and children) and dozens of small shrines and three big ones. This was the first temple where a religious ceremony was taking place while we wandered by. It was very cool.
By now we were starting to flag, but we squeezed in two more temples, both of which were minor disappointments. If you bill yourself as having horrific murals of hell, you better have horrific pictures of hell, not a single etched metal sheet showing general demon poking of humans.
Completely flagging, we dragged ourselves to a restaurant recommended in the guidebook, where I couldn't read any of the dishes to save my life. Eventually, the one employee with some English was sent our way. She set us up with what we requested (dry--which means cooked and not in a soup--noodles) and a shop speciality. It was all very cheap, so we said yes. I really liked the noodles, Paul was indifferent. (I wound up finishing his bowl.) The speciality was gross on all accounts, but oh well. 1 for 2 isn't bad.
Somewhat restored, we walked down a block to the Chikan towers. The towers themselves aren't that impressive--just two big, kind of old towers, but the ground were pretty and packed to the gills with families. It was a happening place, where you can borrow costumes to dress up in for a picture and there are billions of GIANT goldfish eager to be fed (which is surprisingly fun). The towers weren't overly exciting, but it was fun to be where people were. There was live "folk" music which was pleasant. This was also where I learned the harsh lesson that they do make squatter portapotties.
We managed to pack in two more temples--one had very cool detail work--but were out of time and I was so exhausted, I thought poor Paul might have to carry me back to the train station. We successfully boarded our train home and I slept in between stops. It is now 9:30 pm and if I can stay awake until 11 pm, it will be a) a miracle and b) hopefully a solid step in fixing my sleeping schedule.
P.S. I can't get the images button to work, so there are no pictures, but I will try to fix it and get some up soon.
Our first stop was the Confucian Temple complex, which was very nice. It was well-preserved and run by adorably friendly people (they gave us an extra map). It was the only Confucian temple where I've ever since people worship. There was a little musuem in the outlying buildings with artifacts, pictures, and English explanations. Paul was really put off by the animal sacrifices. Apparently, Tainan celebrates Confucius' birthday with a big ceremony that includes the sacrifice of a cow, goat, and pig. Paul wishes to mention that the pond in the complex had swimming turtles in it, not turtles just chilling on logs or whatever, but actually swimming around. They were cute.
After that, I was a little cheerier and Paul talked me into stopping at Lily Fruit Shop, where we got a bowl of shaved ice topped with passionfruit syrup. Here's a rare picture of a smiling Paul at the shop. (It's rare to see a picture of the elusive Paul, not that it's rare for him to smile.) We continued on to the South Gate, which was fun and had a random collection of steles. My favorite was one commissioned by the town's salt merchants to thank the magistrate for releasing emergency salt after some ships sunk in a storm in 1784. Here, we met an elderly woman (80s) who was amused to see us foreigners reading signs about monuments we couldn't read. (I know this, because she said it to us in Chinese.) She was sweet, but what was distinctive about her was her feet. The first thing Paul said when we were out of earshot was, "Did she have bound feet?" I agree there was something unusual about her feet in both small size and uncommon shape, but I'm fairly certain anyone who ever had bound feet in Taiwan is long dead. It was at any rate an unexpected sight and while admittedly fascinated, I didn't dare to look for too long, lest we be caught staring.
We bravely walked on to the Temple of the Five Consorts, which was Paul's favorite temple of the day. It's dedicated to the five wives of the last king of Taiwan, who committed suicide after learning that he had committed suicide in anticipation of losing his throne. The temple was small, but had a lot of open ground (green space is very rare here and usually found as part of a temple's grounds) and a beautiful little flower garden. The second memorial (the first is in the South Gate's collection) to the women praised their virtue in such exaggerated moralistic tones, it was unbelievably over-the-top in English. The title of this post is a direct quote from the memorial. The last line was "The effects of their good virtue will eternally spread." The whole site had the appearance of someone's pet project. (A smaller related shrine was getting all of its interior decoration replaced and had a pad for kneeling--very unusual for such a small public shrine.)
We got a little lost after that, but my mediocre Chinese and Paul's navigational skills pulled us through and we were eventually able to find our destination of Koxinga's Shrine. Paul argued that since it was built in 1967, it really couldn't be considered a historical site. He's right, but I'm glad we went because the decoration on it was lovely and they were getting ready for a big festival to be held there next week, so everything was being repaired and painted. It also had nice grounds, though no flowers.
Across the street was the Lady Linshui's temple, which was the second-best temple we've seen in Taiwan. (Longshan in Taibei is still the best.) It was packed with families (Lady Linshui and her helpers are dedicated to helping women and children) and dozens of small shrines and three big ones. This was the first temple where a religious ceremony was taking place while we wandered by. It was very cool.
By now we were starting to flag, but we squeezed in two more temples, both of which were minor disappointments. If you bill yourself as having horrific murals of hell, you better have horrific pictures of hell, not a single etched metal sheet showing general demon poking of humans.
Completely flagging, we dragged ourselves to a restaurant recommended in the guidebook, where I couldn't read any of the dishes to save my life. Eventually, the one employee with some English was sent our way. She set us up with what we requested (dry--which means cooked and not in a soup--noodles) and a shop speciality. It was all very cheap, so we said yes. I really liked the noodles, Paul was indifferent. (I wound up finishing his bowl.) The speciality was gross on all accounts, but oh well. 1 for 2 isn't bad.
Somewhat restored, we walked down a block to the Chikan towers. The towers themselves aren't that impressive--just two big, kind of old towers, but the ground were pretty and packed to the gills with families. It was a happening place, where you can borrow costumes to dress up in for a picture and there are billions of GIANT goldfish eager to be fed (which is surprisingly fun). The towers weren't overly exciting, but it was fun to be where people were. There was live "folk" music which was pleasant. This was also where I learned the harsh lesson that they do make squatter portapotties.
We managed to pack in two more temples--one had very cool detail work--but were out of time and I was so exhausted, I thought poor Paul might have to carry me back to the train station. We successfully boarded our train home and I slept in between stops. It is now 9:30 pm and if I can stay awake until 11 pm, it will be a) a miracle and b) hopefully a solid step in fixing my sleeping schedule.
P.S. I can't get the images button to work, so there are no pictures, but I will try to fix it and get some up soon.
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