The RailRoad Bike Trail

I went on a little bike ride today exploring though the outskirts of Feng Yuan. I found an abandoned tree infested home, back alleys that lead no where and  ran into a security guard about 30 minutes into the trip named Andy. He informed me of a bike trail that I needed to check out. (I did some additional research and found out  that it leads from Feng Yuan to the east coast of Taiwan. It also goes through a horse town, an old sugar mill and a surviving aboriginal village.) I deciphered the directions on how to get there from his broken English and the little bit of Chinese I could understand, and found my way to the bike path.

 I found a railroad paved over and forgotten. The soft cadence of crickets pulsated through the cool winter air.  Couples and children peddled by as I stopped to take in the dense leafy jungle mountains out in the distance. I continued down the path until I came to a twisted outcropping of railroad destroyed by an earthquake some time ago. It was all so tranquil to just stand still and listen to the world move in its natural way. I turned around and went home as Cherry blossoms and sweet peas perfumed the air, passing farms and little villages as I made my way back. I think I am starting to fall in love with Taiwan a little bit.

Wrinkly Smiles and Breakfast Table Chats.

     A couple of weeks ago I spent the weekend in Tai Nan on invitation of the Magan and Chen families. Here I am the complete stranger but yet with in a matter of seconds I felt like one of the family. I would wake up early in the morning to find grandma Chen awake and running about doing her things, breakfast prepared and on the table. We would chat a bit with my broken Chinese and her heavily accented chatter about the day. A couple hours later papa Magan would make his way down to the breakfast table, spending most of the time introducing me to the methods of eating and flavors of some of the many fruits of Taiwan. A lofty time after the previously proposed time mama Magan would make her way down the marble stair case with regal sovereignty, plans made and ready to go. We would spend the rest of the time touring the coastal streets of Tai Nan trying any thing that took our fancy to eat. I quickly learned though that after trying something I would shortly there after be asked by mama Magan if I liked what I had just put into my mouth. If my answer was even the slightest in the positive mama Magan would disappear only to return with an enough of what ever it was to feed an army. The delights didn't end there. Every place we went I was being introduced to another part of the family. Aunts, 4th and 5th uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins, siblings and all of them were just as wonderful as the next. After a long day of adventure and meeting so many wonderful people we would return to the Chen mansion  to always find grandpa Chen in his 1980's double breasted suit and slippers watching baseball in his handcrafted Italian leather seat with a glass of tea in one hand and a wrinkly smile across his face.

 

 

The Mountain Staircase

 

 

Step after step we hiked up the steps of the through the thickly over grown jungles of the Feng Yuan mountains. Creaking old bamboo a mile high swayed in the jungle wind, filling the air with sounds chanting monks as we continued to to climb the mountain. Switch back after switch back of arduous stairs was like climbing the spine of an ancient stone dragon that tossed and turned with every step. We finally reached the top of the penrose staircase to gaze upon a sloping hill of tranquil tangerine trees and in the distance the bustling city of Tai Zhong.

Creativity From Chaos

Creativity some times comes from not knowing enough and you really screw with the established rules and end up discovering something with out knowing it. Julia is one of my students in 5th grade and she struggles with spelling, reading, writing, in fact if  you can name it she struggles with it. Today in class we played boggle ( you take one big word and use the letters from it to make other words ) and instead of looking for words that she knew, Julia just used the basic rules of word construction and smashed random combinations of vowels and consonants together not knowing if they were words at all. In the end she was so quick with basic combinations that she came up with more unique words than I did in the time frame that was given. She beat the class 15 to 3. I hope that this victory gives her the motivation to step up her game and improve her English.

Marooners Island and Night Markets

Taiwan, it has been amazing two weeks and fabulous first week of teaching. Some days it feels like two months have gone by already and  others the reality that I've only been out for two weeks hits me and I crave the smell of home made bread and nickels.

Today is Sunday and my first time to go to church in Tai Zhong which is only a ten minute train ride away . Of course I didn't take the train and took the bus because it is cheaper by ten NTD which translates out to thirty one cents USD. This little decision took me on a little wild goose chase resulting in a personal tour by buses 63  and 81around the perimeter of Tai Zhong for two and a half hours. After arriving at the right street  and another thirty minutes later of walking around the wrong part of Tai Zhong because the address I was given was missing the character for south, a  kind old Taiwanese lady perceived my lost behavior. Cindy ( the old Taiwanese lady ) and I drove around for the next fifteen minutes until we finally arrived at church.