All of those annoying tendencies from my high school years
are coming back to me I fear, and I find myself thinking of a list of excuses
as to why I haven’t written in weeks. It
isn’t for lack of excitement in my life, on the contrary, I have found myself
too busy on Sunday nights, and for as much as I love writing about my
adventures, living them is the preferable experience, and so my virtual diary
was temporarily put on hold. Bear with
me over the next few months, for I worry that this pattern will continue as a
sort of defensive mechanism, allowing me to remain in denial about limited
number of weeks I have left here.
Lets journey back in time to the not so distant past, three
weeks ago, where the story left off. It
was a week like any other, there were classes to plan, students to teach, and
papers to grade. That is, until Friday rolled around, and the normalcy of a
standard week was thrown away to allow Taiwanese families time to pay respect
to their relatives by cleaning out the family tombs. Seizing the short work week, a group of 9
teachers rented cars and took to the roads for our first road trip in
Taiwan. The plan was to cut through the
mountains using the central cross-island highway and to spend our weekend in
Hualien and Taroko gorge (two locations which were new to the majority of the
group, but that I have visited twice before).
We set off bright and early Friday morning with half of our group
sharing a Honda Civic, and the other half sharing a Toyota Tercel, which means
we were pretty close once bags and leg room were accounted for. Several hours into the mountains we were
proud of our progress, but as the altitude climbed, the weather worsened, and
for hours on end we were in clouds, unable to see more than 10 feet in front of
us (at many times I struggled to see more than 1 dotted line on the road)
desperately following the twisting yellow lines on the side of the road.
There are some very strange things about driving on
Taiwanese roads. The most noticeable is
the lack of concern Taiwanese drivers show for their surroundings. Using speeds far exceeding the limits,
passing cars on curvy mountain roads (in ‘no passing’ zones), and not turning
on their headlights in visually difficult situations are just a few that come
to mind at the moment, but while I was driving they were the most terrifying
factors imaginable.
About half-way through the driving portion of our departure
day (though no one realized we were still so far away from our destination), we
found ourselves in an out-of-place line of traffic. Considering we were on mountain roads with no
lights or signs, we were confused, so we sent ‘scouts’ to find the source of
the stop (as well as bathrooms, it had been a long drive at this point). Reports came back, we were being held up by a
rock-and-mud-slide which had completely coated the road and was continuing to
rain down debris into our path, and the workers predicted a 3-hour wait for the
roads to clear up. So, was it better to
wait it out, or turn back to take a different route? Once we had emptied our bladders (in a cloud,
behind a tarp, next to the side of a cliff…that was a unique bathroom
experience), we had no more pressing issues to attend to, so we settled in for
the long wait, and before we knew it (about an hour later), we were moving
again. The rock fall slowed and
one-by-one the workers allowed cars to sneak through the ‘danger zone’ and
carry on. We drove, and drove, and
drove, and eventually the sun set, but the road signs showed we were still
hours from our destination. We arrived
in Hualien city at about 11:30, 14 hours after the journey began, which is an
almost unfathomable amount of time considering the size of Taiwan. We settled into our hostel (which, due to a
booking error was about $400NT/$14US cheaper per person, and was only occupied
by us on the 2nd night), then went out for a ‘congratulations on the
completion of an epic drive’ drink at the nearest bar (where the staff taunted
us with English songs until we took over the stage and serenaded the practically
non-existent audience for hours).
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| Happily watching the falling mud and rocks |
We woke up early the next morning to begin the hiking
portion of our weekend. As I’ve
mentioned before, Taroko Gorge is the gorge formed between the marble cliff
faces of the mountains along the fault lines cutting through Taiwan’s east
coast. The result of plate movement, as
well as erosion, have chiseled out a gorgeous canyon filled with natural
waterfalls and unnatural bridges/tunnels to reach them by. There is a lot to explore in the gorge, but
the last two times I visited, I didn’t venture further than the Eternal Springs
Shrine, so when we drove past that temple and went on instead to the Baiyang
Falls and Water Curtain trail, I couldn’t have been more excited. The trail began with a long, dark tunnel, and
from the onset we knew it was a mistake not to have flashlights (as we all
clung to handrails in the following tunnels).
After a few kilometers we arrived at a suspension bridge and a beautiful
view of the Baiyang waterfall, which runs about 50 feet high. Continuing on from this we reached the sight
I was most excited about this trip: the water curtain. This is an unnatural waterfall, formed during
the tunnel’s construction, which now leaks heavy streams of water into a lime
coated corridor. The result is an almost
deafeningly loud, and constant stream of water which flows in the tunnel and
has resulted in the closing of this portion of the trail. Who am I to let signs stop me though, and I
(along with many other people) ventured into the caves to see the spectacle for
myself. I must admit, I think the
novelty was in the fact that people are advised not to visit the location, for
there isn’t much to see, and the lighting ruins the opportunity for most
pictures.
Two "waterfalls", the Baiyang falls (left) and Water Curtain (right)
We went to the trail head for Swallows Grotto, but seeing
our daylight hours were already growing short, we went back towards the Eternal
Springs Shrine, because I was the only one who had seen it before. To our surprise, the roads were blocked, and
no one could access the shrine, but I remembered the hiking trail from a nearby
Buddhist temple, so we reconvened in that parking lot and worked our way to the
temple in reverse. At the top of the
walking trail we realized access to the shrine had been blocked in this
direction as well (due to what appears to have been minor rock fall problems),
so most people abandoned interest in visiting the shrine (while a few of us
covered the bright articles of our clothing, snuck past the barriers, and
descended the staircase).
Upon return to the cars, we spotted a Buddhist monk carrying
a heavy load of food. She called us
over, offered us countless pieces of fruit, and gestured a request for help, so
we helped her move the load to a food elevator on the opposite side of the
temple. In return she showered us with
even more foods, including fruits, breads, and a colorful paste, which we never
successfully identified.
That night I kidnapped one of my co-workers and we wandered
Hualien city for hours. It began as a
disinterest in getting chicken from a street vendor, and resulted in us eating
a sit down chicken dinner (so we didn’t get too far really), but was filled
with several hours of being so lost we couldn’t find the car.
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| The Road Trip Crew, out of the cars and loving nature. |
The next morning, after deciding to take the southern route
around the island rather than cutting through the mountains again, we jumped
back in the cars and began driving again.
The first stop of the allowed me to complete my minor goal of seeing all
three tropic of cancer markers in Taiwan, and while here we also watched some
aboriginal dancing. It was a short lived
break from the road though and we were all getting anxious to return to
Changhua. We drove all day with very few
breaks, and somehow the journey still took us 10 hours.
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| The third installment of my Tropic of Cancer collection: Hualien. |
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| With the aboriginal dancers (who called me "mother"). |
So, what do five people in their mid 20’s do when stuck in a
car together for 24 hours? For as much
as my car-mates would have appreciated the quiet time, I need to keep my mind
busy when I am driving, so we were constantly playing various games, or having
interesting conversations, or singing.
Some of the highlights in terms of games were Mad Libs, word
association, a song chain (where you need to sing a new song based on a word in
the previous song), and my favorite, Fantasy Lasagna (where you simply design
the perfect lasagna). The trip was all
about being on the road, and to have survived three days, in confined vehicles,
with no accidents and no tension is an obvious sign of a successful trip.
On Monday evening, as I was helping to gas up the cars and
prepare for their return the following day I spotted a large number of people
waiting outside. If I hadn’t been here
last year I wouldn’t have understood what was happening, but the fireworks, and
the flags, and the people, triggered the memory of last year’s Matsu parade and
I was certain she was on her pilgrimage from Dajia again. Sure enough, within a few minutes of
searching, I was able to find her carriage, and her crowd of faithful
followers. So many people in Taiwan
thing so highly of Matsu that it is hard not to do the same, and so I got into
the spirit of the march (even more so than last year). First I joined the line of people who, in the
middle of the marching crowds had found space to crouch down in front of the
carriage so she would pass over them and bring them luck. After enduring a few comments about being
foreign, I was invited to crouch down, and was pushed very low to the ground so
she could be carried by. I followed
closely for some time, made sure to touch the carriage (also intended to bring
good luck), watched her bless the temple nearest my apartment, and was about to
go home when one of the carriers caught my eye.
He motioned for me to come closer to the carriage, then asked me
(through gesture and Chinese) to carry one of the two large, red fans that
accompanies the procession (fans of this size can only be used for deities in
Taiwan, they are not intended for fanning people). It felt amazing to be a central part of the
procession.
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| The carriage of Matsu, walking the crowded streets of Changhua. |
Getting back into the swing of things after the drive was
difficult, however. I find extended
amount of time behind the wheel really wears me out, and I spend the next few
days wanting constant sleep and knowing I needed to work. We welcomed three new teachers to the schools
this week (one for each of the following: Changhua, Homei, Lukang), and it
wasn’t long until the weekend was upon us again. I fought my exhaustion on Friday to stay out
all night singing karaoke and playing darts.
The thing about Taiwan is, when you say ‘all night’ you mean it. We were out so late that the sun had risen
and we went to get breakfast before going home, which is not a pattern most
people are used to when they aren’t heavy drinkers.
Before even going to bed I had made plans to have a friend
from Taipei come visit, so I snuck in a few hours of sleep and played hostess
for the weekend. I adore Changhua, but
it is really difficult to find things in Changhua that are impressive to people
from other areas of Taiwan. I had
basically exhausted the list of attractions after the Buddha statue and had to
resort to a scooter trip to Nantou to occupy Sunday’s time.
Some weeks the classes drag on, and as a teacher I worry I’m
not making any process. Other weeks,
this one included, everything seems to be going perfectly. My classes were great this week and I had so many
time where they reminded me of how thankful I am to be here. One of my students was recently in the
Philippines, and she brought me back a bracelet, which melted my heart. I also had a weird moment where one of my
classes wanted to ‘decorate’ my arm, so they wrote their names all over me as a
sort-of tattoo. The classes which are
learning mother’s day songs were really projecting their lyrics this week, and
the ones doing reader theater were enunciated almost perfectly. A comical addition to my daily teaching
routine, is my new usage of ‘punishment kisses’ for my younger classes. Inspired by one of my TAs, I have begun to
purse my lips and make kissing noises at students who won’t speak or behave
properly, and it is a great incentive for them to get to work, because they
would do anything to avoid teacher kisses.
Adding to the cuteness factor of this week, when introducing this to my
second-youngest class, one of the students actually told me he wanted a kiss
when I pecked one of his classmates on the top of the head, so it appears he
will be functioning on a reward system while his classmates are on a punishment
one. The main benefit to this system is
that it is a light-hearted approach to behavior issues, and anything that can
help teachers avoid loud voices and physical punishments is to be sought after.
The start to my weekend was not as relaxing as normal
weekends should be. I woke up early (by
my standards) so do a promotional event at one of the local elementary
schools. This is the intake season for
new students to enroll in the fall terms at all of the cram schools, so
representatives from buxibans near and far gather around and harass parents
into enrolling their children into the school.
Each school has an ‘attention grabber’, such as fliers, tables,
inflatable toys, or in the case of my school: foreigners. To be honest, I had fun at the promo, I got
to hang out with my TAs and give notebooks to adorable children, but it was
hard not to feel like a zoo animal each time the sentence, “This is one of our
foreign teachers,” was said to a passerby.
Saturday was relatively uneventful after the promotional
event, thankfully Sunday made up for it.
Along with quite a few other teachers, I made my way to People’s Park in
Taichung for an Easter potluck picnic.
We brought some snack foods and wandered off to drink stalls several
times during the day, while we hung out in a park playing games and
talking. We even decorated Easter eggs
(though we couldn’t find any dye, so we drew on them with crayons
instead).
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| A collection of eggs to celebrate the holiday (Mine is the tie-dye one on the left) |
May you enjoy the rest of this beautiful spring day with
your families or friends, making the most of the increasing temperatures and
watching for a certain bunny. Happy
Easter!
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