Nike Women's Half-Marathon (Taipei)

Last Sunday I ran in the Nike women's half-marathon, although I almost didn't make it to the race on time. I had kept busy the last few days leading up to the event, moving into a new apartment, getting to know my new roommate, and going to a friend's college graduation, but I left my Saturday evening free so that I could relax, eat well, and go to sleep early. Unfortunately, I woke up a few times in a panic, worried that I'd overslept. I even had a terrifying nightmare that I'd overslept and hadn't made it to the event at all, only to wake up and realize in relief that it was only 2:00 AM. My alarm was set for 3:30 AM, the storage lockers would be open for use from 4:30 AM to 5:15 AM, and the actually race itself would start at 5:30 AM.

My alarm did not go off. I woke up on my own, noticing that the sky had already begun lightening outside, and panic clawed its way down my throat. I was afraid to look at my phone, sure that I'd slept in too late. It was 4:50 AM. There was no way I'd make it in time to store my stuff in the lockers but I could still make the race. I dressed, pulled my hair back, and grabbed five things: NT$1000, my ARC ID, my race bib, a time tracker, and the key card to my apartment. I couldn't store anything, so I could only take essentials. And I forgot to eat breakfast. Not the best start.

I did manage to stop in a 711 and get some water before sprinting down to a bigger road so I could flag a taxi. I hurriedly explained my situation to the driver, who managed to get me to the race start location with five minutes to spare. I was so incredibly relieved, not even caring that my start was less than ideal. I made it to the race on time! Now, to actually run it...

I had not realized how many people would be there - it was amazing to see so many thousands of women, all running this race. This was my first race so nearly everything was new to me and caught my attention - running out in the middle of the street (especially on the raised highway) was such a novelty to me, and I also liked looking at the gear other people were using, the clothes they chose to wear (best one: pink tutu), the music they were playing, how they were keeping pace...I tend to be most comfortable keeping a very steady pace when going such a long distance, so I was a little frustrated when people would sprint by, weaving in between runners and then stop, too tired to continue, and walk, getting in the way of the people they'd been weaving through. But anyways.

I had my cash stuffed down in my sock (resulting the smelliest bills ever, I am so sorry for the people I ended up paying that money to), and my ARC and key card in my hands. I decided not to bring my ipod as 1). I actually don't have any of those carrying/strap cases so I'd have to carry yet another thing in my hands and 2). I didn't want to be so focused on my music that I missed out on what was going on around me. It was fun being cheered on by people, getting high fives (and snacks!). Surprisingly, despite not having eaten, I felt full of energy and pretty good. About halfway through though, the snack tables started popping up and so as soon as I encountered the first one I grabbed a cracker and a cookie and just stuffed my face as I was running. The route eventually took us off the road and onto the riverside park path, which is very pretty - and I'd never been on that part of it, so it was nice to explore a new area. I was definitely feeling strained as I reached the last few kilometers but my goal was to do the whole thing without walking and I succeeded! And now I have a time that I can try to go and beat for next time. 

After the run, I collected my medal, free T-shirt, and sports drink (I never thought something so gross could taste so good), and relaxed in the air-conditioned bus that drove us back to the locker area in Xinyi, near to Taipei 101.There was a big stage with some people performing / talking to the crowd about something (I was too tired to really pay attention), and tents giving out free stuff, but all I really wanted was to get cleaned up, so I went home, devoured a snickers, and jumped in the shower. And then, remembering how satisfying the food from Sababa had been to a friend of mine after she ran a marathon, I decided I also wanted to load up on Middle Eastern food. So I decided to introduce my new roommate to the amazingness of Sababa.

I slept a lot after that. The only thing I regret is not having my phone to take photos, although you can see photos of the event here. If I'm still in Taipei this time next year, I'll definitely run it again!

Spring Final and Translation (Taipei)

This is my spring semester final presentation from last week. This time I actually went through the trouble of translating it into English, which was actually harder than I thought it would be. I debated whether just making it a general translation (easier) or really trying to stick to the original meaning of what I wrote (harder). I went with the latter as a challenge, and as a result of English might sound a little funny. Actually, this really made me better understand the reasons for a lot of the mistakes or grammatical correct but strange sounding sentences I’ve seen in papers written in English by Chinese students. Also, I had more information/photos in a PowerPoint that elaborated on some of the things that I said, so that would also account for any overly general or strange parts of the speech. Also, I think it’s funny how the English looks WAY longer, even though I painstakingly tried not to add any superfluous meaning that’s not in the original.


丝路与宗教

今天我要跟大家讲的题目是丝路与宗教。这不是客观的历史，而是我去旅行得到的感想。几年以前我在西安学习中国历史，尤其是丝路的历史。为了比较好了解这个历史，我跟我的同学都一起去参观跟丝路历史有关系的地方。我们从西安坐飞机到新疆，然后从卡什开始我们的旅行。

头几天在新疆，我们去看卡拉库湖漂亮的风景。我们也去沙漠骑骆驼和爬沙丘。当时，我毫无疑问对食物有最大的兴趣，可是觉得我们看到的事情也很有意思。

我们已经在西安学习了利用丝路传播的宗教。我们也发现虽然上个世纪在中国发生了很多次要消灭宗教的事情，可是还可以见到宗教的历史遗产，甚至于宗教在现代社会所扮演的角色。在新疆，我们不但有机会更了解宗教的历史，而且也有机会更了解宗教在现代社会的情况，尤其是回教的角色。当時，我对中国政府如何说明宗教有兴趣。一般来说，我们在上课所学习的历史和宗教常常跟博物馆介绍牌所形容的不太一致。让我意识到政府如何用历史巩固权力。

我们从新疆到青海，然后再到甘肃。这期间，我们碰到几个问题，而且大家开始觉得疲倦，可是還是得到很多新鮮经验：跟西藏和尚打篮球，看了西藏和尚怎么画唐卡，还有骑西藏小马。我们也去见了一位喇嘛。按照规定，我们接近和离开时候，千萬不可以背对他，由于这样做真的對他不尊重。我跟同学都遵守这个规定，不过我们离开以后，几个同学頗有微词。因为那位喇嘛还是一个小孩子，他们不明白人民怎么會这么尊敬他。对一个不信仰宗教的同学来说，每个宗教的信徒都被别人愚弄，可是我觉得这话可不能这么说。每个宗教都大概有自己的道理，只是从外人的观念来看，每个宗教仪式的目的可能不太明显。我个人不信仰任何宗教，可是我明白宗教安慰人，也有助于建立社会和人类的关系。建立关系後也可以让贸易交流比较顺利，可见前人不但用丝路传播宗教，而且宗教也可能有助于丝路的发展。

我的演讲说到这里，谢谢大家。

The Silk Road and Religion

Today I will discuss the Silk Road and religion. This is not a speech based on academic research, but rather a speech based on my personal travel experiences. A few years ago, I was in Xi’an studying Chinese history, especially the history of the Silk Road. In order to better understand this history, my classmates and I visited places connected with the Silk Road. We took a plane from Xi’an to Xinjiang, and started our journey from Kashgar.

The first few days in Xinjiang, we went to see Lake Karakul’s beautiful scenery. We also went to the desert to ride camels and climb sand dunes. During this time, I was predictably most interested in what we were eating, but the things we saw were also very interesting.*

We had already studied religions spread by the Silk Road back in Xi’an. We had also already realized that despite the destructive forces of the last century, you can still see religious sites, even the role that religion plays in modern society. In Xinjiang, we not only had the opportunity to better understand religious history, we also had the opportunity to better understand the current religious situation, particularly the role of Islam. During this time, I was very interested in how the government represents religion. Generally speaking, the history and religion we studied in class frequently did not coincide with the description panels at religious and historical sites. This really made me realize how a government can use history to consolidate power.

From Xinjiang province we went to Qinghai province, and then arrived in Gansu province. During this time, we encountered a few problems, and everyone started getting tired, but we had many fresh experiences: we played basketball with Tibetan monks, watched how they paint Thangkas, and rode Tibetan ponies. We also visited a lama (Tibetan Buddhist religious figure/leader). According to convention, we could not allow our backs to face the lama at any time, whether entering or leaving，because to do so is disrespectful. My classmates and I followed this rule, but after we left, a few classmates voiced their complaints/criticisms. Because the lama was still a child, they did not understand how people could defer to him to such an extent. According to a student who did not believe in any religion, every religion’s followers are being duped, but I don’t agree. Every religion has its own logic, it’s just that from an outsider’s perspective, the motives of every religion’s practices are maybe not very obvious. I don’t believe in any particular religion, but I understand that religion comforts people, and also facilitates connections between people. Establishing these connections can also help make the process of commercial exchange more smooth, so one can see that the Silk Road not only help spread religion, but also that religion maybe facilitated the Silk Road’s development.

My speech has finished here, thank you everyone.


*This sentence felt oddly generic to me but it was the result of changes one of my teachers made。。。so I went with it – actually, a lot of the sentences in our textbooks feel kind of generic/broad to me, but I don’t know if that’s simply a feeling I get because of differences between English and Chinese or because it’s an aspect of the style of academic writing/speeches – a lot of the text content is written as academic speeches/lectures - or simply a characteristic our particular textbooks. Or just because my Chinese isn’t advanced enough for something more complicated...

Annddd....here's a one of my practice videos (I recorded myself a few times so I could better identify my pronunciation problems...especially the fourth tone, third tone combo which killed me...I practiced saying "li4shi3" - "history" - so many times but it's still really hard for me to force myself to say it correctly).