Thanksgiving CelebrationSSSSSS

Last year, Thanksgiving made me homesick. I missed my family, turkey, pumpkin pie, football, etc. This year, even though I didn't get to celebrate by sitting down with my family over a HUGE turkey, I got to celebrate for 3-days-straight with many of my "new" friends. No matter how I look at it, I have much to give thanks for!

On Thanksgiving Day (Thursday), I decided to take a small treat for my class. Thanksgiving is a day to eat traditional food... so I bought some traditional Taiwanese candies for my classmates :-) Thursday evening, in honor of the holiday and to have some fun after our mid-term exams, a bunch of friends and I went to KTV! We sang songs and danced until the wee-hours of the morning.

After going home for a 'power-nap', I returned to Taoyuan city, where the director of our graduate school treated us to a "Thank You" dinner. Not to celebrate Thanksgiving, but to thank us for our help with the Ministry of Education assessment. :-)

Saturday evening, I was lucky enough to attend our church's Thanksgiving party (an outreach event for college students.) They had planned for about 150 people, but almost twice that number showed up. Although, each person only got a taste of the turkey and pumpkin pie, it was amazing to spend time with so many friends and meet lots of new ones! Eddie, Angel, and other friends from church did a great job planning and hosting the party and service! Afterward our "service" got underway and we had a wonderful time singing, praying and GIVING THANKS together!

Chinese Bible Online!

I just found the complete Bible online and in CHINESE!

The link below takes you to the International Bible Society website. You can download the Bible in .pdf version for FREE in either Traditional or Simplified Chinese characters!

http://www.ibsstl.org/bibles/chinese/index.php


I never knew that this existed! They also have free, ready-to-download .pdf versions in 33 different languages! :-)

Cloud Gate Dance Theater

Tuesday night Ming Chuan played host to the famous Cloud Gate Dance Theater group. It was by pure chance that I and a few of my classmates found out about the performance... a friend of a friend told someone...etc. The best part is we got our tickets for FREE the day of the performance from the international office on-campus. (Ahhh.... the perks of being a 外國人）

It was a really interesting show. I have to admit I am not a huge fan of modern interpretative dance, however, the dances were a fascinating blend of ancient Chinese dance/martial arts and contemporary modern dance. The performers and the choreography was very well done.

One other interesting note, the "mayor" of Gueishan County was in attendance and said some encouraging words before the performance. I didn't catch much of his speech, but he seemed excited to be there and very supportive of Ming Chuan University.

- Moon Water Dance -
"'Energy flows as water, while the spirit shines as the moon."
This description of a Tai Chi practitioner's ideal state was the inspiration for Moon Water. Accompanied by selected compositions from J.S. Bach's cello suites, Lin Hwai-min's choreography is derived from the graceful Chinese martial arts of Tai Chi."

- Wild Cursive - 
"...a lyrical dance with its title and movement ideas inspired by Chinese calligraphy."

Breakfast sign...

I MUST remember to take my camera with me at all times! I never know what I'll see!!

This morning I noticed a calligraphy hanging in the breakfast shop where I had my coffee and "Chinese pancake". The painting was special for two reasons: 1) I could read all the characters (YAY!) and 2) the proverb struck me as being incredibly true....

"話多不如話少，話少不如話好。”

Loosely translated: "It is better to speak less, and best to speak kindly."

Cloud Gate Dance Theater comes to Ming Chuan

Tuesday night Ming Chuan played host to the famous Cloud Gate Dance Theater group. It was by pure chance that I and a few of my classmates found out about the performance... a friend of a friend told someone...etc. The best part is we got our tickets for FREE the day of the performance from the international office on-campus. (Ahhh.... the perks of being a 外國人）

It was a really interesting show. I have to admit I am not a huge fan of modern interpretative dance, however, the dances were a fascinating blend of ancient Chinese dance/martial arts and contemporary modern dance. The performers and the choreography was very well done.

One other interesting note, the "mayor" of Gueishan County was in attendance and said some encouraging words before the performance. I didn't catch much of his speech, but he seemed excited to be there and very supportive of Ming Chuan University.

- Moon Water Dance -
"'Energy flows as water, while the spirit shines as the moon."
This description of a Tai Chi practitioner's ideal state was the inspiration for Moon Water. Accompanied by selected compositions from J.S. Bach's cello suites, Lin Hwai-min's choreography is derived from the graceful Chinese martial arts of Tai Chi."

- Wild Cursive -
"...a lyrical dance with its title and movement ideas inspired by Chinese calligraphy."

A Freshman Again!

I'm back to being a freshman! Ahh... the good old days, you don't really know what's going on, or what you're going to do... but it is FUN!

The best part of my entire experience so far at Ming Chuan has been my classmates! Professors come and go. Assignments get written. We prepare for exams, write papers, and soon forget most everything... but classmates (or DOTmates- more about that later) are "forever!" :-)

Since we only have a short time together we're making the best of it... click below for pictures from our class BBQ (also Mervin's bachelor party!)

classMATES

Doing the warsh...

It must be hereditary! My grandmother would always include a detailed description of when and how much laundry she did in the weekly letter she wrote (yes, hand wrote) and mailed to our family.
The good old days of postage stamps and handwritten letters might be gone, but I can still talk about doing laundry!
The "point" of this entry isn't so much the laundry, but the fact that after 14 months here in Taiwan (and 4 months living here in GueiShan) I have developed a weekly routine. Unlike the semester I spent as an exchange student, when every week was filled with traveling and exploring, this time I am "living", being immersed in Taiwan's culture and learning to live Taiwan-style.
I can now "cook" a decent meal with only hot water from my water purifier, my toaster and my coffee pot. Ok- "decent meal" might be stretching it, but instant soup, oatmeal, various toasted sandwhiches, etc. can be very satisfying-- and a good change of pace from rice!!
Back to the laundry. I must coordinate my "warsh" with the weather, because just like millions of other people I don't have a clothes dryer. During the sweltering, hot summer months this isn't too much of a problem. Just avoid the typhoons! However, Taiwan's "winter" season can be tricky. It rains for days on end, and when it does stop raining the weather is still cool and HUMID. (Emphasis on HUMID) Wet to the point that sometimes you clothes just don't dry completely. A little creativity can easily overcome this problem. For instance, last year I hung my clothes up in my bedroom and let my trusty fan blow dry them for two days. The lack of clothes dryers in "regular" households explains why finding dryer sheets is almost impossible here! :-) There are washers and dryers available at the local laundry mat-- but I am too cheap (and lazy!) to use them (especially when I can do my laundry here for "free"!) Come to think of it, clothes dryers really do waste a lot of electricity! I'm "going green"!

Doing my "warsh"

Although I don't have a clothes dryer, I do use one ingenious invention, the "spin machine". This little wonder turbo spins your clothes, wringing out the majority of the water WAY better than the washing machine OR than you could ever hope to by hand! It's also a life-saver when you only want to wash one or two pieces of clothing... those of you who know me will remember that I am prone to spilling things on myself (especially anything that will stain when I am wearing white!) Now instead of soaking, soaking, soaking clothes and waiting for laundry day, I can wash them by hand (scrubbing out those stubborn stains!) and put them in the TURBO SPINNER before hanging them out to dry! :-)