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).

Huangdidian 皇帝殿

So I went for a hike on a trail called 皇帝殿 (Huangdidian) near the small town of Shiding, about half an hour or so outside of Taipei. Before hiking the trail, I got lunch at a restaurant called 王氐豆腐 (wangdi dofu). Sadly, they were also out of dou jiang (soymilk), for which they are famous for, but I managed to get fried tofu, some greens and the best luroufan (rice topped with bits of pork meat, fat, and juices) I've ever had. So delicious.

Afterwords, I headed for the trail. For about an hour though, all I did was labor up one set of stairs after another. It was boring, hot, and exhausting. Finally, though, I got to the interesting part, with ropes and ladders. It was actually more challenging than I had anticipated and I had a few fun moments envisioning myself tumbling down as I struggle to get a grip on some of the climbs. I definitely won't be going on this hike alone again, but I do want to go back with a friend and explore some of the parts I didn't get to.

I eventually made it up to the ridge, from which there were some amazing views. The trail became very narrow here and the slopes were very steep, so there was a rope with several slings that you could hold on to. I tried it for a while but it messed with my sense of balance so I felt more comfortable just walking along without it.

In the photo above, you can just barely make out Taipei 101 rising up from behind the mountains. Around this time, a lot of clouds had started moving in and the sun was beginning to sink further down than I was comfortable with. I was starting to get nervous that I'd end having to make my descent in the rain at night so as soon as I found a trail leading back to the main road, I took it. A set of cement steps eventually appeared and led me down to a few eerily empty temples. The incense had been lit and there was a little bit of music playing from radio, but no one was there, or even further down the path. It was very Miyazaki-esque. About twenty minutes down from the small temples, I came across a woman carrying two slabs of stones up the steps. I'm not sure what they were exactly but they looked a lot like Western gravestone markers (although I don't think that's what they actually were). I just can't believe she was carrying them all the way up the stairs. She had stopped to rest so I stopped to talk for a second and offer up a "jia you!". I even wondered if I should help her but she waved me on my way and I kept going.

After wandering through a small little rural community, I made it back to the main road and followed that back to Shiding, took the bus back to Taipei, took a nice hot shower, and feel asleep for nearly twelve hours.

My Final Presentation on Anthro Theory, Mainly Boas and Cultural Relativism...in Chinese, of course

人类学的社会演变理论

今天我要跟大家讲的是人类学的社会演变理论。这个题目的范围很广，所以我就谈一谈三个部分：第一个是人类学最早的演变理论，第二个是这个理论受到的批评，然后最后给你们举一个语言人类学的例子。

根据人类学最早的理论，每一个社会的演变都一样。当时人类学家觉得能够创造社会演变的分类。关于怎么把社会的演变分类，有很多不一样的看法，可是他们都差不多同意把社会的演变分类能表示出每个社会的进步程度，他们也能根据这个标准说某个社会比别的社会好。

事实上，这个最早的人类学理论不知不觉地受他们的社会的影响，所以把社会演变分类的时候，他们总是把自己的社会归类为最进步的社会。有一位人类学家对这点批评得很厉害。他的名字是 Franz Boas。他提出来一个新的想法。根据他的观念，每一个社会有它自己的演变，所以没办法分类。再说，每一个人的看法都受到他所处社会的影响，人类学家也不例外。

我要用一个例子让你们清楚一点。我刚才提到的人类学家，Boas，对人类学的贡献很大，尤其是在语言人类学方面。他写了一篇很重要的文章。这篇文章是对别的文章的回复。有一篇文章分析了几种印第安人的语言。根据这篇文章，几种印第安人的语言常常用几个不一样的词汇表示一样的意思。从这位语言学家的观点来说，印第安人语言的进步程度比西方语言的低。Boas批评我前面所提到的那篇文章。他提出会有这样的结果是由于语言学家听错了。是事实上这些词汇的声音都一样。一个人怎么听一个声音，要看他们的母语是什么。那就是说母语不同的人有不同的听声音的方法。换句话说，每一个研究都受研究者的文化影响，所以他们不知不觉地误会了别的文化，语言，什么的。他提出来的这个观念，文化相对性，是一个人类学理论的根本原则。

我的演讲说到这里，谢谢大家。

I'm too tired to translate it...you can always try plugging it into google translate, however horrible a result it might be...

The National @ National Taiwan University

How ICLP Took Over My Life

So, I've been meaning to update for nearly a month and half now. I've been swamped by classes, schoolwork, and just life in general - like visiting my old students at Guting (they all got so big in less than three months!), seeing my old host family from Luodong, running/hiking/eating/just enjoying Taipei. Of course, overall, I feel like my life has fallen into a very basic pattern: study, eat, class, eat, study, class, study, run, study, sleep. Repeat.

It's not really as monotonous as it sounds though. We go through coursework so quickly that the subjects are constantly changing, and with three different "subjects" over the course of four classes (Modern Chinese Conversation, Practical Audio Visual Chinese, and Moral Chinese Tales) I hardly get bored. And Taipei is the last place anyone would ever get tired of the food. Over the last week, I've had Nepalese, Middle Eastern, Korean, Thai, and, of course, Taiwanese cuisine. Not to brag or anything...

Taipei: Food Edition

So this is what I've been up to for the last week.... 

So. Excited! I look calm below but am secretly feeling the same as Jenny.

Absolutely destroyed. And there was free all-you-can-eat ice cream afterwards.

So - verdict being - I live in a great city. I also stopped by to visit Yilan. Yay for Vietnamese food and the only chuabing place that has a mint-chocolate flavor option.

Prince Dorm

So I'm pretty happy with my new location - Prince dorm. Yeah, 'prince' as in son-of-a-king, as Fiona put it. It's a very majestic name for slap of concrete. Anyways, it's about a block away from National Taiwan University, about a fifteen minute walk from ICLP (where I'll be taking my classes), and about two minutes from a bike path along the river. I went for a run there this morning and, as much as I loved Yilan's path, this is even cooler.

 I also went to the roof of the dorm and there are some pretty nice views. The tallest building slightly faded in the background is Taipei 101. So, yeah, pretty nice. That is, it was until I found myself locked on the roof. Oops. Thankfully, with a little help from my friends, I managed to get the phone number for the front desk and someone was able to come up and free me. After about an hour. Thankfully I did not have to try yelling down at bystanders. Being fourteen floors up that might have been difficult. Oh, and embarrassing. Also, a great way to make a first impression for my future dorm-mates.

Obligatory dorm room photos:

And, of course, I can't forget the water park across the street.

Because, seriously, what is cooler than that?!

Never mind that it looks to be built for children...

23! in Taipei

Sunday was a big day. I moved into what will be my home for the next year. I turned 23, and, as a sign of my old age, I promptly fell asleep at 7:30 PM.

Before that though, I managed to get some celebration time by making popovers and watching Criminal Minds with Fiona. The day was perfected with a chocolate shake and pesto hummus at a restaurant called Chocoholic, which I believe must have been created with me in mind.

Of course the real gem of photo is this one: 

I never thought I had to worry about straw placement in photos.

 Soon I'll post photos of my dorm, which is probably the nicest dorm I've ever been in. There are nice views from the building, I have my own bathroom, and there are *hundreds* of yummy looking restaurants close by. It surely makes up for leaving this majestic piece of land behind:

Goodbye America. I'll see you again someday soon.