Tuesday March 24 2009

1. Have to wake up at 6:30
2. Still sick
3. Meet John to Photo Assist for Choice Fashion
4. Finish up at 7
5. walk to MRKT
6. get a Muslim bread
7. watch some Curb Your Enthusiasm

Monday March 23 2009

1. Chinese tutor at KFC - hear a Chinese translation of a Cave In song...I swear it
2. Homework
3. Mandarin class at iMandarin
4. still sick
   

Sunday March 22 2009

1. Wake up at 11:30
2. Make breakfast
3. Go to the Shanghai Volunteer Club Fair, interested in Crickett
4. Take a long walk, stop by Bridge 8
5. Eat Tuna sandwiches
6. Talk to mom on phone
   

Saturday March 21 2009

1. Awaken to rain and thunder
2. Clears by 11
3. Jason and I go for a walk, I get a Bubble Tea and he a Grass Jelly Milk Tea
4. Meet Cherro at Sculpture Garden - discuss export
5. Take a taxi home, try to exclaim that he is going in wrong direction...have to call Jason to talk to him. I get a speech on the way home from him about my pronunciation...i have no idea what he is saying, I just respond with "hao de"
6. Eat at our new favorite cheap Indian restaurant
7. Go to Tesco for milk, yogurt, and PBR - cashier can't believe we are buying 8 beers
8. Go to Logo to see F*cked Up - saw a 16 year old passed out by 10:30 in the streets
9. Eventually make it home
10. Jason trys to make me sign a contract that I won't be mad when I wake up sleeping on the floor because I won't take a shower
    

Friday March 20 2009

1. Wake still with a cold
2. our AYI comes for her Friday visit
3. Jason and I go out to Pudong for his work Visa, upon exiting the subway, see a little boy completely exposing himself with his little crotchless pants, cant help but laugh, buy a pair of shoes on sale, Pony, buy some Muslim nut cake, uh...tai gui le
   
4. buy a Muslim bread on the way home from subway
5. order Hello Pizza
6. Jason plays Fallout I go to bed after downloading games onto my iPhone
   

Thursday March 19 2009

1. Woke up with an awful head cold and congestion
2. Go to MRT to photograph an interior
3. Wait for Jason to finish work
4. Go to Fortune Club Networking event at Xian Tian Di
5. Leave after a half an hour because it's awful...it appears to be a lot of people with little to no networks, including me, looking for the right contact
6. Go to The Time Passage, split a mini veg pizza and I drink one pint, jason 3 - a dodgeball team enters and there is a strange thing going on with one young boy and 4 chinese local girls in the corner.
7. Finish the night with 2 episodes of The Office
   

Wednesday March 18

- Study Chinese
- Took a walk with Jason around the neighborhood
- Went to Muslim noodles...gave me rice rather than hand pulled noodles...totally bummed - also way too much rice, not very much egg and tomatoes
- Chinese class in the evening

Tuesday 17 2009

-Shot headshots at MRT
-Tried to pet the cat at "Spin"
-Free lunch sampling at "Voila Bistro" - expat from Chicago with Crepe styled dishes
-Chinese class with Michelle at KFC
-nap
-Found networking events here in Shanghai online
-Caught up on personal emails
-Eat Indian food down the street with Jason - 28 kuai per person
-Pick up 4 taro pastries on the way home
-Listened to Planet Money http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
-Watching a documentary on Fractals - PBS

Monday 16 2009

-Picked up Visa from Exit Entry office
-Went to iMandarin Chinese class
-Rode bike home, and by the Lanzhou noodle place (another Muslim noodle place) the tall man says "hello", I respond with "hello", he says "come back". This is where I buy delicious breads.
-Watched "Push Cart Man"

Sunday March 15 2009

-Made Egg sandwiches for Jason and I
-Took a walk to Julu Lu and Fumin Lu to start up scooter and pump up my bicycle tires
-Scooter won't unlock, took a walk towards XianTianDi, got a snack at a bakery
-Continued walk to DVD store, found a new one at 714 WeiHai Lu - excellent selection of artsy and documentary films
-Split an order of japanese squid balls, very little squid in it - extra oily
-Jason spotted a kitten playing in a bush along sidewalk, watched it fall out of the bush and came towards us a little - I wanted it
-Went on a bicycle ride for 3 hours, saw a scooter get hit by a car - driver of car gets out and starts screaming at the guy who was hit.
-Picked up new iLook magazine with my photograph
-Stopped by fruit stand and bought ice cream
-Picked up spicy sour cabbage to supplement dinner of beans and potatoes - saw the man we always see walking backwards in front of Muslim noodle place. he was wearing the blue sweats. He said "hello".
-Watched Religiousless with Bill Mahr
-Talked to mom via Skype

Just basic documentation

I have decided to start this back up so I have some sort of record of my daily activities. I see and experience so many things on a weekly basis, that I often forget it and most of it is fairly humorous. I now am approaching my 6 month mark of living here in Shanghai.

***

I was keeping track of the days, so please read on. More to be posted shortly, as well as pictures. Just landed in Seattle this morning.

happy birthday oldie

This morning I state that I want to see something historical. A bi decides us to take us off to a little island from the city, the first inhabitated area of Kaohsiung. We had been there earlier in the week to eat seafood, and the last time I will ever eat the inner workings of mammals. We get to the island and of course, all the locals are touring the island, eating! I can’t explain to you how much Taiwanese people eat. You would actually be surprised if you have never experienced it firsthand. I thought Jason was all talk but it’s strange. Most people imagine Asians being tiny and petite, but there are definitely a fair amount of overweight people here.
A bi reassures me that where we are going, these people don’t want to go. We finally park and Dune jumps out of the car – for the first time – and heads down the road leading the way. “Wow, he is speedy”. We get to a demolished old brick and stone structure, very Eastern in design and architecture. Dune points to a front room and explains that this is where he was born. The main room and structure was constructed during the Tsing (spelling?) (Pronounced Ching) dynasty and then during the Japanese occupation more was added on. You can see the separation of the two from the outside wall.
His old neighbors come out and his childhood friend. They take us around back to show us another structure. There are also 3 additional older women sitting in the shade and 1 or 2 additional men approach and speak to us. One of the women looks like Jabba the Hut and is a bit scary, the other has the most beautiful skin and face but she must be in her early eighties. I mean, her skin, it was almost like a natural Botox and I wanted to use whatever she has been using to keep that beautiful texture of skin. Dune Dune sat down and they were all chatting about something, while those under the age of 50 were listening to the history of this block. One of the buildings roofs was demolished when the Japanese bombed Taiwan and when the current residents (still living there) returned, they had to put a new roof on – obviously if they are still living there. Dune Dune finishes singing an old Japanese song, in Japanese, and we head along to the ocean. There are old bunkers in the bottom of the mountain you have to walk through to get to the water. Jason explains that I want to get some pictures of dune dune before we leave in his birth house so we head back over. Happy 77th birthday you crazy old man.
We have dinner, which I have a hard time eating the fish. It’s one of those bloody fishes and the texture is weird and is very reminiscent in shape to a snake. I just can’t do this anymore.
Tomorrow we leave for Taipei in the early evening after having a buffet breakfast with some of Jason’s family again.

sugar cane

I wake up to the newscast, as I call it, where I open my eyes from the sun shining directly into them and hearing ‘A bi’ talk in the other room. I rarely hear Jason, that’s why I call it the newscast. Maybe I am mean, but you know, I have to make jokes at these sort of things because what would getting sour about it do? Or course its a little tongue in cheek, but I make up all kinds of things in Taiwan to entertain myself, like these kind of moments.
Today we ventured to see the only all wood train station in Taiwan, it was okay. Old Kung Fu movies use to use the train station for authenticity. Speaking of Kung Fu movies, Taiwan use to be where they were filmed because of the vast amount of land untouched. But the immense amount of power lines are found everywhere, and the fighters after be very aware of their movements to avoid the lines in the shots.
We then took a walk to see an old sugar factory. Jason and I decided to climb over the fences to get a better look at things. It was definitely worth the risk to get rid of the tourists and explore on our own. We even met back up with Dune Dune and A Bi and continued to look around until we were told that we had to leave that area.
When we were at home earlier in the evening, Dune Dune was wandering about the apartment changing the calendars and stating that tomorrow is December first, “tomorrow is my birthday”. Whoa old man, “Really???!”
Jason and I went to the night market again and the arcade, like we do almost every night. We jump on the scooter, I hand on behind as Jason speeds along the streets, and usually ride around and shoot the shit until about midnight. This evening we got back around 12:45 and Dune Dune was still awake on his little couch with his weird knit stocking cap on and I say, “Happy Birthday Dune Dune” – Jason echoes and D is surprised, Jason explains to him that its now December first and it’s his birthday.

i hate car rides

Breakfast, a walk on the beach, and then back into the car…really? We have to leave…I am seriously bummed that we can just meander around. We are taken to the most southern point of Taiwan and other points of interest. A rocky shoreline and the grasslands, where the wind on the cliff was enough to push you over the edge. I walked close to the ground and was sure not to lose footing. Another amazing site to see.
Driving back, again, as usual, discouraging. Sites…so many things, I just want to see up close and check out and photograph. Bad mood, sun sets, I sleep in the car – I can’t dare to be taunted like this any longer.
There is discussion of when we are to leave for Taipei. It seems that since Jason and I have so much luggage, that we can’t take the fast train and will have to take the bus. Sure, that’s fine, sounds kind of cool to me. ‘A bi’ thinks we should leave Tuesday morning so I can see the sites from bus window. Oh my god man, you are killing me! No, I want to get out of Kaohsiung; I want to quit feeling like I am a 15 year old on vacation. I am so very grateful for everything, but I can’t continue overeating 3 times a day and walk and venture out at this pace. It’s making me bonkers. I don’t want to watch the country whiz by my eyes during the daylight, just saying to me, “You can’t get out and take a look…” What would make me the happiest is if you just dropped me out in the middle of nowhere and said you would come and pick me up at the same place at sunset. Oh, it would be a dream comes true. Jason insists that we leave Monday night and there is no reason to leave Tuesday morning.
My patience is shortening, and I have been sleeping in a little in the mornings, just to have some time by myself. Jason thinks it leaves a bad impression about being a lauwei, but he also doesn’t understand what it’s like to spend every single day from waking up til 10 pm with your significant other’s family. Even more so when I am involved in about 2 percent of the conversation. It’s been rough, emotionally and mentally, but I am really trying to make the best of it.
This evening, Jason decides we will just ride the scooter around on Saturday and I can take some pictures. Cool, just what I want.

kenting national park

To Kenting National Park, the Southernmost tip of Taiwan. I guess it will be about a 3 hour drive there, I am beginning to go a little crazy from the amount of time I am spending in a car, staring out the window, only understanding about 5 words of Taiwanese. It’s awful being an explorer/photographer staring out of a window, looking at all the things you want to photograph. Just passing you by, as if just a tease. Luckily, I am a pro at capturing imaginary photographs – you should see the album in my memory! ‘A bi’ tells Jason that if I want to stop to just say the word. I do a couple of times but it’s difficult on so many levels. Traveling in a car, kind of fast, with 3 other people. So, I know they will get out and they have to stop and find a place to pull over. Second, I have learned on this trip that locals don’t see the same things I see, and sometimes are very perplexed at what I want to photograph and why. I got it a fair amount in China, “Why are photographing that, there is nothing there!” It’s just a hassle…I make up my plans for my next visit to Taiwan – on a scooter – and when I can speak for myself…and no oldies mc’oldie. Not that I mind ‘Dune Dune’ being old – it’s him being so senile.
On one stop of mine, of some Beetle nut trees, there was a pack of wild dogs taking in the sunshine. I was forewarned that they approach women a lot sooner than a man. I was told to crouch down and put one hand on the ground. I did, they ran away – the motion is symbolic of picking up a rock to hit it with.
The beach is beautiful – big surprise, right? The water is blue and clear – the first time I have ever seen clear water, where I can see my feet through the water. It’s Thanksgiving right now in the states, and I am wearing shorts and a tank top hanging out on the most gorgeous beach I have ever seen. That’s what I am thankful for, this opportunity to travel half way across the world.
We walk down to the night market and have dinner. At the hotel, we catch the last hour and a half of the spa. After dressing, Jason and I make it to the arcade before “A bi” and “Dune Dune” – it’s 10 pm and all the games have been shut off but there are still 2 pool tables and 2 ping pong tables as well. Jason and I start a game and I have to interrupt…quietly, trying not to alarm him too much…”Jason…Dune Dune…” and signal to look with my eyes. Here he comes, completely dressed, except without pants. Jason rushes up to him and escorts him back to the showers at the spa. Jason reports when he gets back that he couldn’t find his pants so he just went ahead without ‘A bi’. This is so sad.
The four of us play ping pong and pool and we cut out around 11 to check out the “town”. We end up walking about 2 miles until we hit something going on. But the night market has closed, so has the cart with the homemade light up “BAR” that was camped outside. So………………………..Jason and I travel to the end of the area with places and we see a little female black dog. He goes inside to buy a hot dog to feed to her. She gobbles it down but now she has 2 additional friends along. 1 of the new friends was sleeping in front of the 711 door and has a nice, apparently new, battle wound on his rear. A little blood from probably a fight for food. Jason buys 2 more hot dogs, and feeds them to her. You can tell by her belly she has given birth to a fairly recent litter. I cannot explain to you the amount of wild dogs in this country. Not that they are wild, but more abandoned pets or run always. She is such a cute dog and I want to take her home so badly. We have to leave because it’s making Jason and me so sad. I believe there is one more purchase by Jason at 7 11 for the dogs, but this time it was fish ball skewers. The dog in front of the police station was an asshole and snubbed his nose at it so we went back and found a litter of kittens and through it between the buildings. These dogs hang out in front of convenient stores, and I was actually approached by one inside of one here as well. I was a Yellow Lab that just decided to see what magazines I was checking out.
At this point we have travelled from the hotel about 2 miles to point A. Then returning towards the motel. Then we walk back towards point A, where Jason looks at me, “here, go get something, I can’t keep going in there and buying hot dogs”. At this point, it was after we saw a tiny, scrawny, white, very young female dog watching a man eat his noodles in front of 7 11. Jason bought a hot dog and we walked a few steps away to feed it. I walk into the 7 11, I go to the canned food because hot dogs can’t be that satisfying to this visually starving dog. She has a buddy out on the stoop too, which is a fairly larger dog with a gimp hind leg. I eye the sardines, no, the canned meat, no….there has to be pet food here. There it is, a large can of dog food for 30 NT (exchange rate here, about 36 NT = 1 USD). I buy 2. I figure the cashier can’t say anything to me like, “you can’t feed the wild dogs”, because, shit, it’s obvious that I can’t speak Taiwanese. I am going to use my stupid American stigma to the fullest extent for the wellbeing of these dogs. I walk out and Jason looks at me like I have just won the ultimate prize in the ring toss from the night markets. We feed the 2 dogs and now here comes 2 more. One is definitely a pure Alpha male…and has been in his fare share of fights.
Jason now buys 2 cans and we go into an alley and slam the down on the ground to empty them out. We try to split it up between the 4 dogs. The first 2 original dogs stay behind and the Alpha and his BFF follow us for awhile. We try not to look and we think we lose them at one point, but we can hear their little toenails approach us from behind. Okay, 2 more cans, and that’s it. We empty them out and the BFF of Alpha literally swallows his can in one gulp. Jason is explaining, “Oh my god, my dog at that whole can at once, I can’t believe it”.
We head back to the hotel, walking along the edge of the coast, around 1 am, after spending close to 2 hours feeding wild dogs, and Jason drinking his Taiwan Beer. I wish something really stupid and Jason wishes “that all the dogs have a home”. I look up at the stars in the black sky and think how much I absolutely love him. This may be one of the most wonderful times we have shared.

along the shipyard

We headed over to “A koo”, “A kim”, and ellie’s apartment today where we had breakfast. There is one item on the table that I keep looking at. It looks like toast with sliced mushrooms and melted cheese on top. Since I try everything here (including the on Saturday with ox intestine – which by the way is much better than the pig intestine I tried tonight), I bit into it – taking out of my mind any preconceived idea of what it may taste like. You know, how when you think something is going to be sweet, and it’s not at all and totally messes up your palate. Well, here in Asia, you have to erase all your sense of taste before biting into something. Anyhow, I was extremely delighted! A koo” is Jason’s mom’s brother, and he “invented” this…it was cranberry bread, with sliced banana’s on top with melted mozzarella cheese – I had 3 pieces…it wasn’t like Chinese food at all, so I HAD to get my fill when I could. To be quite honest…sometimes I get a little burned out and I crave that awful, bland, American style food.
From there, we go to “a bee”s where I can answer my mom’s worried emails, ride the horse machine (that’s all the $700 USD rage here in Taiwan), and “a bee” give us gifts. We haven’t gone over there yet, because supposedly his wife is a real pill. I met her and she seems fine to me. My own personal opinion is that it’s none of my business, and as a female, sometimes I don’t think it’s fair that he air’s their personal affairs to the family, and me ( a complete stranger ). She is not there to defend herself, and we don’t know the whole story…no one is always innocent in relationship strife’s. My assumption is that she feels less loved that his parents. Probably a little neglected and overlooked. Anyways……………….
From there to the warehouse where Jason’s uncle has a beer warehouse. I meet the 2 other sister’s of Ping Ping who work there. Jason and I hop on the scooter to get a bite to eat and a cup of coffee later. I get to look through some Taiwanese fashion magazines – which I absolutely love, a tie with Hong Kong. We also walk by the Film Archives, where they have 2 film projectors on display that are using Carbon Arc Lamps for the light…a Japanese design.
Back at the warehouse…we spend some time with the sisters, and now Ping Ping and her daughter, and Ping Ping’s daughter and some employees. “A bee” is supposed to pick us up at 5 but Ping Ping called him to tell him that Jason and I were doing stuff. Wow, how awesome of her…a couple of hours on our own, “a bee” has been so kind and I am so grateful, but I also wanted some time to just roam and do as we did for a little bit in China. We go around the Ports, I get to take some pictures, see some Taiwanese graffiti, go to an arcade – where we played some of our favorite games, and road around this carts that have an animal covering on them.
We head back a little after dark and then go to the office for some congee. From there, we get on to the scooters’, 4 total, 3 little kids doubling up with adults, sometimes 3 to a scooter. The gang of 4 head to the ferry to go across the island for seafood. How awesome it is to be winding through the streets on scooters like a local, feeling completely welcome to this wonderful country. Once on the island we are shown with wind power park and then on to dinner. I make faces and play with the 3 kids, even still communication is difficult. Mae Mae – Ping Ping’s daughter – is about 4 and is absolutely cute. She has a friend there around the same age and I can’t help but watch them the whole time…just too adorable for words. Head back, Jason takes a stop at the dentist at nearly 10 and “a bee” takes me home because we don’t know how long it will take. “A bee” drives MUCH faster than Jason does.
*sigh* now I feel like I am kind of up to date with this thing.

tribes

The rain lets up and we move up to the mountains to see and learn about the tribes that lived – and still live, on the island of Taiwan. Both sides of Jason’s family come from the Southern Taiwan tribes. I try to find his resemblances in the faces that are shown from photographs from the 1900’s. I learn that 45 percent of the island is still untouched by globalization, and 85 percent of Taiwanese can trace their roots to one of these 10 or so tribes. The government here in Taiwan, the Left, has been trying to instate laws to help protect and preserve these tribes and genealogy. Recently, I have read myself that many of these tribes are leaving areas like this I am at…to retreat back into the mountains and give up trying to make a buck from tourism. Taiwan may still be one of the only countries left with as many aborigines still in active practice.
This area we are at is absolutely beautiful, but there have been some recent landslides that are in the process of being cleaned up. There is a school there as well. Jason and I pass them in one of the museum huts and they all say “Hello”. Oh, sometimes I hate being white.
At the dance, Jason and his cousin made me take some pictures with the dancers. You would be surprised how tall the boys are that I posed with.

rain

It’s raining…a day of food and batting cages.

favorite old man ever

Jason has to visit his grandma and grandpa on his father’s side today. We get dropped off at his uncle’s where gramma lives. The place is nice, and I take some family pictures for them – I can tell Jason feels extremely awkward around them. The backyard use to house a dog and a pet monkey – they both are long gone now. That is where MRT Design comes from, Monkey Rides ‘Tiger’. After about 30 minutes, a half a banana, some citrus fruit, and Taiwanese tea we travel without gramma to visit grandpa. It’s about a 30 minute drive out and can’t believe my eyes of the sites. Fields and fields of tropical vegetation, with slight smog hovering above. A few old factories, some still in use, others not.
When we get to grandpa’s, Jason is re-introduced and some awkward time, I am introduced and the tiny, shriveling, old man looks at me under his cloth baseball cap and says, “Hello, It’s nice to see you”…and everyone smiled and laugh. What a wonderful way to be greeted by the oldest Taiwanese man I have yet to meet. I step up and shake his hand with a gentle touch and a big ol’ American smile. We stand around, I listen and watch grandpa, always, like usual, completely overwhelmed by the language. I get a few endearing pictures of grandpa, hopefully some good one’s as well. I am told that he was recruited into the Japanese military during WWII, not by will. Taiwan has a long history with Japan, and I plan on researching this all much more when returning home. I am sorry to say farewell to grandpa, and he says, “See you soon”. I smile and hope to do the same.
His generation was taught English by the Japanese, my parent’s generation was taught by the Right Wing China party…the second of the two taught poor English because of worries of people communicating too much. Oh, good ‘ol China.
We drive to a very large temple. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the weather couldn’t be any better…shorts and t-shirts. There is a “cave” explaining Buddhism with statues and such. Much of it is electronic, with motion sensors to activate music, motion, or the giant rainbow behind the Buddha’s head. After walking through this cave, I realize my mom has been probably following the wrong way of thought. Perhaps when I am in Ohio, we can find a temple to visit – she would probably feel at home with the ideas of this Eastern thought.
Lunch and some other random stuff…you know…just driving around.