Archive for the tag 'Taiwan'

Little surprises in Taiwan

Ninja July 23rd, 2008

little-surprises-in-taiwan

Here are some more of the sights that I saw while in Taiwan.

What used to be someone’s small rose garden.

More freshly hung laundry. I’m a sucker for laundry. If you take a look through any of my vacation photos, you will see hung laundry, graffiti, peeling posters, doors, type, and occasionally people.

Some kind folks offered to take us out for rides to see the sunset, but I never had the time. I was stuck indoors grading homework, prepping for the next day, and oh yes, in long meetings (thought I could get away from all that).

Meet Alex the cicada (the kids named him for some odd reason). Before Taiwan, I had never seen one.

Unlike Alex, this ugly fellow did not get a name. We were constantly finding dead roaches in our showers and classrooms. These bad boys were over 3 inches long and they flew!

There were over thirty of us living in one house. People left their personal items scattered about the house. As I was heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I passed this—Whitemen Toothpaste! When I asked the owner about it, she said, “We have Blackmen Toothpaste, too. They are exactly the same, but with different labels. You do not have these brands where you live?”

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Some of my Taiwan photos

Ninja July 21st, 2008

some-of-my-taiwan-photos

I haven’t even come close to downloading all the photographs I’ve taken! But here are a few from the first batch.

NvP, waiting at the airport.

Giddy with excitement! Can’t you tell?

Here’s the view from my window seat. What a glorious, unreal blue sky.

Off to Feng Yuan!

Here is the sleepy town of Feng Yuan (literally translated means “fragrant garden”) waking up at 6 AM. I had to balance on the edge of a 3rd floor balcony to get this shot. I wrapped my arm around a nearby clothesline just in case. It was really sturdy, I checked, no worries.

I love the sight of freshly hung laundry.

Two of the local Feng Yuan kids chatting before school starts. I wonder what they’re saying?

On to the next town—Wan Nei!

Here is one of the houses in Wan Nei. Wan Nei is near Suan Tou (translated, its name means “garlic.” So I went from fragrant garden to garlic. ^__^

Here’s one of the fruit stands I pass on my walk to school. There are many farmers in this town, and as you might imagine, quite a bit of competition to sell their goods. Each stand is lucky if they can bring in $10 US a week.

This is one of my students from my last class. His name is Ken. He is incredibly sweet and kind-hearted. And I love him dearly. His mother passed away from some form of brain disease a few years ago. He lives with his father, two sisters, aunt, uncle, and grandmother in a shed-like house with a dirt floor and a thin corrugated metal roof. After class ended, he invited me and some other teachers to visit his home. He rode his rusty bike ahead of us, and he’d stop at each corner and turn around to check on us. While we were walking, he gave us a tour of all the different crops. To the left, you can see rice starting to sprout.

I think I will head off to bed. I will post more photographs and stories during the week.

See you around,

Ninja

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I’m back from Taiwan

Ninja July 21st, 2008

im-back-from-taiwan

Hello again!!

It’s been a while since my fingers have felt the joy of tapping on my keyboard. I nearly forgot my passwords. Powerbook login. Email login. NvP login. Twitter login. Oh, dear.

Since my return, I’ve been happily greeted with hundreds of emails (from both friends and spammers), bills (of course), and packages (oo la la). It will probably take me a bit to get back to all of you, but don’tcha know I’m going to try my darnest to write back (within a reasonable time frame). Please be patient. ^___^

It feels good to be home!

Much love,

Ninja

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Taiwan-bound. Be back 7-20-2008!

Ninja July 3rd, 2008

taiwan-bound-be-back-7-20-2008

I’m taking a break from NvP + I’ll be back on the 20th!

800px-kitkat_chunky.jpgKit Kat Chunky photo from Wikimedia

I’ve been feeling so scatterbrained lately.

I’m going to be traveling to Taiwan to teach English. So in the past couple weeks, I’ve been trying to cram 2.5 weeks worth of work in, in addition to my regular work load. Bleh. I also managed to stuff 2.5 weeks worth of clothes (plus toiletries + 2 spare pairs of shoes) into a 22″ suitcase, so really anything is possible.

Before I say farewell, here’s a sneak peek at a painting I’m working on. It’s a detail of antlers from the underdrawing. Since then, the drawing has grown + has a fresh coat of gesso on it.

See you soon!

Cheers,
Ninja

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