As many or most of you may know, Chinese (Mandarin) is a tonal language where words that look the same in Pinyin have completely different meanings depending on the tone you use. The easiest example is "ma." It can mean "horse" using one tone, "mom" using another, and I think it can also mean to scold someone. I've been using flashcards to learn Chinese characters, and each card has a phrase to showcase the use of the character. It's been a slow process but I am picking up on some Chinese and am able to recognize more and more characters all the time. I can't piece them together into anything coherent, but I'm working on it.
One thing that helps is having three native Chinese speakers in the English office. Good for me, but perhaps bad for them as I think I'm actually driving one of my co-workers, Linda, rather batty by practicing Chinese phrases on her in my terrible monotone, American dude trying to speak Chinese, accent. One of my other co-workers, Min-hsien, has spent a lot of time around foreigners and so she can understand what i'm trying to say pretty easily. Linda, however, just looks at me with an incredulous look that says "what the hell are you trying to say?" What makes things so difficult is the fact that when she repeats the correct pronunciation back to me, to my untrained ears, it really doesn't sound so different. This has also happened in a couple stores where I have actually asked for something in Chinese and they just give me a blank look. When I finally say it correct enough to understand, they repeat it back to me in what pretty much sounds like exactly what I just said. In response to this, I have learned the Chinese equivalent to "That's what I said."
"Na shi wo shuo de."
I'm sure I butchered that, but what more can you do when trying to learn a language? The tonal subtleties are definitely going to be the biggest mountain to climb in my Chinese language acquisition, but I've definitely been enjoying trying to learn it.
While it's going to be a long process, I guess when I can finally start passing the Linda test I'll know I'm on the right track. Wish me luck, because it is not going to be easy.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Of all the days to not have a camera...
As many of you already know, Andrea is currently in China advancing her knowledge of Chinese medicine. Perhaps unknown is that we currently only have one camera and it is currently in her possession. This is OK as I had the camera for the first several weeks I was in Taipei and was able to take a lot of pictures. What is unfortunate is that today is definitely a day that I wished I had a camera (this is an exaggerated misfortune. I'll have other opportunities to take the necessary pictures in the future).
I have now been in Taipei for over two months, and while I'm embarrassed to say it, today was actually the first time that I left the house with absolutely zero agenda about my final destination. I've done bits of wandering here and there, but it usually was tied to some eventual goal. Wait a second. Even leaving the house without an agenda is technically an agenda. It's just a little less specific.
"I will leave the house with no destination. I will just walk."
Sounds like an agenda to me. With a liberal bias I might add.
Since I have been in Taipei, I have been relatively content with my walk to the MRT station, to work, and back. So today, I walked down a street I had never walked, looked down alleys I have yet to walk, crossed a bridge I had never crossed and found myself in what was for me, uncharted territory. What was interesting about this uncharted territory, is that as soon as I crossed the bridge, I found myself back on the street that passes right by my apartment (Zhongzheng, which is also another name for Chiang Kai-Shek) and crosses a different bridge. I decided to walk down this street and see where it lead.
Well, it lead past a lot of businesses, and a park, and buildings, and then it ended. I hadn't anticipated walking this major road to its eventual conclusion, though I have to admit there is something satisfying about it. I had noticed early on that it did lead toward some rather attractive looking forested hills, and so I wasn't disappointed when I reached its end.
For those unaware of Taipei's geography, a brief word. Taipei is a vast metropolis that has gradually absorbed surrounding towns and is composed of the original city and New Taipei (the surrounding areas that make up Taipei County). If you are viewing this area from higher ground, it looks like an almost endless urban landscape surrounded by mountains. This is actually one of Taipei's most charming attributes. No matter where you are, if you want to get into a little bit of nature, it's really not that far away.
So once I reached the end of Zhongzheng Rd, I found myself at the foot of what looked like a rather impressive hill (mountain). I wanted to climb up that mountain but was not sure if there was a good route to take. I made a couple attempts by going up a couple of Taipei's seemingly infinite alleys, but was thwarted both times. Eventually I just decided to walk down the major street parallel to the mountain to see what would happen. At first, not much. But right as I was about to give up, I discovered the entrance to a little hiking trail that ended up being less of a trail, and more of a stair master. Really, it was just a bunch of stairs. A bunch of stairs that took you up almost 2000 feet in elevation in about a mile.
Taipei is a city of contrasts. This is exemplified by tall, new buildings next to building that look like they could have been torn down years ago. These same old buildings are also interspersed in the most luxurious shopping areas you can imagine. The view I find at the top of my short and steep hike was also one of contrasts.
If I looked one way, I had an amazing view of the seemingly endless urban sprawl that makes up Taipei and New Taipei. It's not a bad view. I have long been a fan of big cities, and there is something awe inspiring about all the pieces that must come together to make a large city work.
However, looking the other way was truly breath taking. Before I came to Taiwan, the non-urban image of SE Asia that I had composed from movies and pictures was one of layered, rolling mountains shrouded in mist and mystery. This was my other view, and what was amazing about it was that all I had to do was look left rather than right. I had my layered, rolling mountains covered with a thick green forest; what looked like tea fields; and the ethereal haze that added something extra to the whole panorama.
After making my way back down the trail of stairs, I made my way to the riverside bike and pedestrian trail that I had also yet to explore. This further added to my joy of Taiwan's natural beauty (and dismay of not having a camera) as I was treated to the sun setting behind forested hills with the small batches of clouds lit up with colors of pink, red and orange and the sun's rays reflecting on the river.
As I walked down the riverside trail the view of the river was eventually obscured by tall reeds, though every once in awhile you'd get a glimpse of a little garden that someone had made after making a small path through the reeds.
Have I mentioned that I really like Taiwan?
I have now been in Taipei for over two months, and while I'm embarrassed to say it, today was actually the first time that I left the house with absolutely zero agenda about my final destination. I've done bits of wandering here and there, but it usually was tied to some eventual goal. Wait a second. Even leaving the house without an agenda is technically an agenda. It's just a little less specific.
"I will leave the house with no destination. I will just walk."
Sounds like an agenda to me. With a liberal bias I might add.
Since I have been in Taipei, I have been relatively content with my walk to the MRT station, to work, and back. So today, I walked down a street I had never walked, looked down alleys I have yet to walk, crossed a bridge I had never crossed and found myself in what was for me, uncharted territory. What was interesting about this uncharted territory, is that as soon as I crossed the bridge, I found myself back on the street that passes right by my apartment (Zhongzheng, which is also another name for Chiang Kai-Shek) and crosses a different bridge. I decided to walk down this street and see where it lead.
Well, it lead past a lot of businesses, and a park, and buildings, and then it ended. I hadn't anticipated walking this major road to its eventual conclusion, though I have to admit there is something satisfying about it. I had noticed early on that it did lead toward some rather attractive looking forested hills, and so I wasn't disappointed when I reached its end.
For those unaware of Taipei's geography, a brief word. Taipei is a vast metropolis that has gradually absorbed surrounding towns and is composed of the original city and New Taipei (the surrounding areas that make up Taipei County). If you are viewing this area from higher ground, it looks like an almost endless urban landscape surrounded by mountains. This is actually one of Taipei's most charming attributes. No matter where you are, if you want to get into a little bit of nature, it's really not that far away.
So once I reached the end of Zhongzheng Rd, I found myself at the foot of what looked like a rather impressive hill (mountain). I wanted to climb up that mountain but was not sure if there was a good route to take. I made a couple attempts by going up a couple of Taipei's seemingly infinite alleys, but was thwarted both times. Eventually I just decided to walk down the major street parallel to the mountain to see what would happen. At first, not much. But right as I was about to give up, I discovered the entrance to a little hiking trail that ended up being less of a trail, and more of a stair master. Really, it was just a bunch of stairs. A bunch of stairs that took you up almost 2000 feet in elevation in about a mile.
Taipei is a city of contrasts. This is exemplified by tall, new buildings next to building that look like they could have been torn down years ago. These same old buildings are also interspersed in the most luxurious shopping areas you can imagine. The view I find at the top of my short and steep hike was also one of contrasts.
If I looked one way, I had an amazing view of the seemingly endless urban sprawl that makes up Taipei and New Taipei. It's not a bad view. I have long been a fan of big cities, and there is something awe inspiring about all the pieces that must come together to make a large city work.
However, looking the other way was truly breath taking. Before I came to Taiwan, the non-urban image of SE Asia that I had composed from movies and pictures was one of layered, rolling mountains shrouded in mist and mystery. This was my other view, and what was amazing about it was that all I had to do was look left rather than right. I had my layered, rolling mountains covered with a thick green forest; what looked like tea fields; and the ethereal haze that added something extra to the whole panorama.
After making my way back down the trail of stairs, I made my way to the riverside bike and pedestrian trail that I had also yet to explore. This further added to my joy of Taiwan's natural beauty (and dismay of not having a camera) as I was treated to the sun setting behind forested hills with the small batches of clouds lit up with colors of pink, red and orange and the sun's rays reflecting on the river.
As I walked down the riverside trail the view of the river was eventually obscured by tall reeds, though every once in awhile you'd get a glimpse of a little garden that someone had made after making a small path through the reeds.
Have I mentioned that I really like Taiwan?
Saturday, October 8, 2011
My day in pictures...
Breakfast: Rice crackers with peanut butter and jelly. Cereal has recently taken it's place. But I meant to post this a long time ago.
Perhaps a cup of tea to go with it. This is a chrysanthemum pu er tea, and it is amazing. It is also super cheap. A box of 40 tea bags is around $4.
Now it's time to go down the apartment stairs, and off to work...
...through the alley outside my apartment...
...down De He Rd...
...through the park...
...past the library...
...to Yongan Market MRT station...
...onto the MRT...
...down Minsheng West Rd (not a lot is open at this time of day, though there are a lot of breakfast places)...
..."Good morning, Steve!"...
..."Good morning everybody! Lovely to see you all today."...
...and then I have a seat at my desk. I don't actually teach,
I just watch videos about teaching...
...OK, that's not true. Here we are in the clothes store scenario...
...and now it's time for lunch. I never thought I'd eat school lunch, and yet here I am. It's actually not half bad, though I decided to pursue lunch options outside the school for the month of October (if you want school lunch you have to pay for the month in advance. It's pretty cheap, maybe $25 or so for the month).
After some more teaching it is back to the MRT to start the journey home...
...down Zhongzheng Rd...
...through the produce stand...
...back into the alley...
...back up the stairs...
...and then a little dinner. Tonight's selection is an egg, tofu, kimchei mishmash. Yumm!
Anti-climactic? Perhaps. Thoroughly enjoyable? Most definitely. Good night!
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