Sunday, February 28, 2010

I missed a picture.

P1140716a

Michael and I were rounding the corner on this grove near the mountains in Gukeng when 5-6 of these farm ladies started calling to us. I turned and saw the lot of them in this nook of the orange grove, arranged like a family portrait, like a bouquet of sunflowers, each whose face was bonnet-ed by their floral scarf wrapped hats and smiling, all them holding big sized 7-11 Slurpees under a diffuse and sparkling tropical light.

They held the Slurpees up to me and said that they tasted good. I bet they did in this humidity and under those layers of flower prints, and with those fumaroles of respiration rolling off those fragrant groves. But as I got off my bike and fumbled for my camera, trying to chat with them at my back, trying to keep them in their positions, I turned around and they bashfully didn't want their picture taken. They wanted to take ours. Of course. We were their sight for sore eyes as much as they were ours.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Three Sequential translations from English to Chinese, back to English, again to Chinese

Third Translation back to English

This week, the Lunar New Year, we do not work, the weather has been our experience, because most have not yet transferred to Taiwan. We have to hide in our apartment, it is not our usual. We usually need time to ride a bike trip. We are really beginning to see the number of installments exasperatingly loss. Our own surprise, in their beliefs, pause TV is still fresh in my memory, but only one season in the twists and turns. You know, this is not good.

I think I need an excuse not to spend lazy, stay at home. In the past few months, both with each other's feelings have emerged. One is, we look forward to leaving Taiwan. Another reason is that we have just started to make friends, solve the unit. This is very interesting. We hope that the results of an agent. He said that usually, people spend a few months to close the pop-up an interesting point, but then at the end of this period, they become the wait to save money to leave their daily settlement. This is us. We have our ideas of China. But I am equally, I have this huge overseas organizations, including access to thank all of Taiwan in the diplomatic ambiguity tributaries view.

Silly me, I will not lose an island, and we do the same.


Second Translation back to English


This week, the Lunar New Year, we do not work, the weather has been our experience, because most have not yet transferred to Taiwan. We have to hide in our apartment, it is not our usual. We usually take the time to ride a bike trip. We are really beginning to see the number of installments exasperatingly loss. Our own surprise, in their beliefs to suspend television was still fresh in my memory, but only one season in the twists and turns. You know, it is not good.

I think I need an excuse not to spend money, lazy, stay at home. In the past few months, the two converge feelings have surfaced. One is, we look forward to leaving Taiwan. Another is that we just started making friends, solving unit. This is very interesting. We hope that the results of the agent. He said that usually, people spend a few months to close the pop-up an interesting point, but then at the end of this period, they become a wait and save money to leave their daily settlement. This is us. We have our thoughts China. But I am equally, I have this huge overseas organizations, including the tributaries of the insights obtained to thank all of Taiwan in the diplomatic ambiguity.

Silly me, I will not lose an island, we do too.


First Translation back to English


This week, the Lunar New Year, we have no work, the weather has been our experience since most have not yet transferred to Taiwan. We have to hide in our apartment, it is not our usual. We usually spend their time cycling tour. We have really started to see a number of installments exasperatingly loss. Our own surprise to pause in their beliefs TV still fresh, but only one season in its twists and turns. You know, it has not been good.

I think I need an excuse, lazy, stay at home, at no cost. In the past few months, two convergent feelings have surfaced. One is, we look forward to leaving Taiwan. The other is that we are only just beginning to make friends, solve the unit. This is very interesting. Our agents expect this outcome. He said that typically, people spend a few months to close the pop-up a variety of interesting points, but then after the end of this period, they become a wait and save the money necessary to leave the routine of their settlement. This is us. We have our minds China. But I am equally, I have this huge overseas Chinese, including one of the tributaries of the insights gained from across the island thanked diplomatic ambiguity.

I was silly, I will not do for that lost on an island, we are too.

Original Post

This week, Chinese New Year, we haven't had to work and the weather has been the worst we've yet to experience since moving to Taiwan. We've holed up in our apartment, which is not usual for us. We typically spend the day biking around. We've actually started watching the exasperatingly numerous installments of Lost. Our surprise in ourselves for giving in to its TV suspension of belief is still fresh, being only one season in to its twists and turns. And you know, it's not been bad at all.

I think I needed an excuse to be lazy, to stay home, and to not spend money. In the past few months two convergent feelings have surfaced. One is that we look forward to leaving Taiwan. The other is that we are now just starting to make friends and settle in. It's funny. Our agent predicted this very denouement. He said it's typical that people spend the first several months popping off to various fun spots, but then, after this period ends, they settle into a routine of hunkering down and saving money for their inevitable departure. That's us. We've got China on our minds again. But I am no less thankful for the insights that I've gained about this vast Chinese diaspora, one of whose tributaries cut across this small diplomatically ambiguous island.

I'm silly for relishing that LOST is on an island and so are we.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

First Day of the Tiger Year




We biked randomly again today, following the sun, following quiet small roads where no one stirred, save for a wiggling Cobra that came within feet of Michael's wheels. Apparently startled, it opened its flaps at Michael. I'm glad I didn't see it.

cobra-info0

Then it was us that was startled as we turned a corner in a crumbly village to find a lounging water buffalo. (That's me talking to it.)

We were headed to the temple with the huge seated man, but we found ourselves diverted. We were called out from the street and then ushered into an airplane hanger into the depths of a small complex to a prayer hall. A small female monk with a shaved head gave us incense and walked us up to a middle aged woman sitting in a chair in front of a kneeling congregation. She was "Mama" we we're told. We bowed twice. Then we were separated. Michael sat on the men's side and I was beckoned by the women to sit amongst them. We sat on our knees for 30 minutes with our hands held out in prayer. The woman began to chant and gently sob, which moved the women around me to cry as well. A scruffy black dog with a red envelope around its neck walked around between the congregation until one of the old female monks placed a small pillow down in front of it. The dog nestled down as if it knew it was time to be respectful. Meanwhile, a white fur ball with a bell around its neck lapped the entire room, jumping up randomly and gleefully like a baby running on its tip toes. I closed my eyes and listened to the mixture of sniffling women, chanting, pattering puppy paws on tile with its accompanying jangling bells, and the indecipherable Taiwanese wisdom coming from this old mother.



My Bicycle

P1140499a

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Arbitrary goals

P1140367a

One of the joys of cycling is the arbitrary, but necessary goal that is invented to get you from one point to the next. Small achievable goals make you forget that you are really randomly careening in a space that you've decided to make sense of in your mind. I often wonder what non-cyclists/joggers, or otherwise non-explorers, have as a topography in their heads. Outside of the 2-mile radius from one's front door is there a blurry, pixelated no-man's land? What a scary thought.

To stay off two-lane roads.
To not go under the bullet train.
To keep the bullet train on our right.
To not meet with the same road twice.
To ride west.
To try to stay in the patches of sunlight.
To take this scooter road all the way to its end.
To meet with the river and the 20 foot high embankment without looking for it.
To get on top of the embankment and ride for 25 km.
To take this sky-way motor-free bicycle path all the way to its end.

P1140381a

Thursday, February 4, 2010

About Me