教學相長

Since getting here I have been hearing a lot about 成語 (cheng yu) - these are like Chinese idioms/proverbs and are four characters long and bear great wisdom.  The one my roommate taught me yesterday is 教學相長 (jiao xue xiang zhang) which means, "when you teach someone, both student and teacher will benefit".  She said this after we had a long, delightful bonding session where we discussed all kinds of cultural differences between Taiwan and America, Taiwan and China, and America and England.  We talked about dating and relationship norms, and apparently here it is most common to say "I love you" before you start dating... and wayyyyy before the first kiss.  Also, she and I had a good long laugh when I told her about how every Chinese restaurant in America serves fortune cookies, something that she had only read about in a textbook.  Who gave them the idea that fortune cookies were a Chinese thing??  My roommate had never seen one and was very confused by the whole phenomenon... we both laughed a lot.

Cultural notes - Texas map, English accent, Jane Austen vs Austin, Texas, fortune cookies,  dress vs jumper

Earlier yesterday, April and I discussed different accents when speaking Chinese - she imitated a typical American accent (devoid of tones, as well as the "x" and "q" sounds, which just become "sh" and "ch"), and gave me the scoop on the accents of CIEE.  It's funny because everyone in Taiwan so openly mocks the Bejing accent - it adds a lot of "r" sounds at the end of words (like, yi dian in Taiwan becomes yi diar in Bejing).  But people don't just have trouble understanding - they all laugh at how stupid it sounds.  One time we asked a tourist to take a picture of us and he had a Bejing accent and everyone snickered and mimicked it all day.

I had a typical language barrier awkward moment the other day - I was grabbing dinner (without any of my trusty translators - risky!).  I had had this kind of food before and they always ask a bunch of questions at the end, like if you want it spicy, or want to add meat, etc etc.  So I was prepared to not know what they were saying.  I get to the end and the lady says to me, "qi shi".  If spoken with 3rd tone 4th tone, this means "cheese", so I figured she was asking if I wanted to add cheese, so I shook my head.  She stared at me blankly until I realized that when spoken 1st tone 2nd tone, this means "70" and she was telling me that it cost 70 dollars, and I rudely refused.  Oops.  A similar tone difference issue - remember when I wrote about the fruit lian wu?  Well, the fruit is 2nd tone 4th tone - but if you say 4th tone 4th tone, it turns out this means sexual fetishism.  ... Yeah.  my bad.

Another fun cultural exchange moment was the other day I was hanging out with my friend Jenny and she was telling me that in one of her classes they are learning all kind of literature that is commonly referenced in American/English-speaking culture - like mythology, the bible, and Shakespeare.  Somehow we ended up going through the entire prologue of Romeo and Juliet line by line with me helping translate... I tried to stress that Shakespeare is really, really hard for even Americans to understand, but last I heard, Jenny actually bought a copy of Romeo and Juliet!  加油, Jenny!

This week at language corner I was just filled with love and appreciation for my students.  They really are so great.  All of them are really sweet, great at English, and eager to learn.  Each week I have a new favorite student (but, of course, really no favorite) because whichever of them I speak with most, I am so impressed by!  And Vicky even brought me candy (as well as provided me with the group gossip, which was very juicy).  They really are wonderful and I am so glad I am doing this.

Now for the bad news: I have recently become the victim of an utter massacre by mosquitoes.  The whole time I've been here they have kind of been around and irritating once in a while, but I have never had a bite that lasted longer than a day until now... and now, I have  - not exaggerating - over fifty.  I have bites on my elbows (??) and legs but they are mostly all concentrated on my feet.  Honestly, if I were to eat a piece of human, feet would be about the last place I'd go, but never mind.  Anyway, I have been getting a lot of practice exercising self-discipline in not scratching, but I do wake up several times a night, unable to stop myself.  It's sad, and pathetic, and uncomfortable, and it looks utterly horrible.

They actually have gotten worse since this photo was taken yesterday

So, that has been the main challenge of my past few days.  The weather has been beautiful and perfect, but I guess it comes at a price!

Here are things I want to share:
This is the CIEE newsletter!  Each of us kiddos wrote an article for it, so if you're curious about the people I've been spending my time with, they're all represented here.  If you don't care about them at all but want to read more (yes! more!) of my self-indulgent writings, this is the place to go!

Also: two more Taiwanese songs!  This one I fell in love with when I first heard it at karaoke on the three-day trip.  It's actually in Taiwanese, not Chinese, so I still can't sing along or understand it at all, but it is a really adorable song.  Also, April started teaching me 童話 (tong hua - fairytale) which Gene describes as "like, the Taiwan national anthem".  It's easy to learn, slow enough to sing along with, and a really nice song. The music video is sad though - about a girl with leukemia, so get your tissues out now.

This coming week is going to be very busy and exciting for me.  Next Wednesday is a big memorial holiday here, where people all go to sweep the tombs of their ancestors.  It also marks the beginning of spring break (wed-sunday).  But, my other classes for the week got cancelled or moved, so I have the whole week off!  First on the agenda: this Sunday is a CIEE-organized trip to 大甲 (Dajia) where there is this big, famous temple.  For the past week or so a big annual pilgrimage revolving around Mazu has been going on that will end at this temple, on Sunday, so it will be very crowded and crazy and culturally important.  So that should be really neat.  Then, since I don't have class on Monday or Tuesday, April has graciously offered to let me (and another girl) stay at her family's house in 台中 (Taichung).  On Monday we are going to a number of scenic areas where peach blossoms are blooming, including a farm that has lots of sheep that we can play with, and April tells me "looks just like Europe".  And then on Tuesday we're probably going to do some sightseeing in Taichung.  I am excited!  And once I get back to Taipei on Tuesday night, I will be around for one day before leaving for Kenting on Thursday!  Kenting is on the south coast of Taiwan and it's full of beaches - there is also a big music festival there that we may or may not be going to, but in any case, it's a big spring break destination.  We're coming back from there on Saturday.  Should be a busy and exciting week!  I will definitely take lots of pictures but I think updates are unlikely until my return.

Three more random notes: One, there are lots of butterflies here.  I didn't notice for a long time, but I looked out my window earlier and saw no fewer than six at once!  It's nice.  Also.  Girls talk about their periods a lot here.  One thing I didn't realize is they say you're not supposed to drink or eat cold things when you're on your period, but so several times since getting here, girls (and not necessarily ones that I'm close to...) will seemingly randomly drop into conversation the fact that they are on their period.  It is always a surprise to me.  Also, expanding on the black man toothpaste, my friend Arvin revealed that actually one of the competing brands is called - creatively - white man toothpaste!  The two, side by side, pictured below.

Go figure.

For Ginnie's birthday this past week we went to a swanky bar at an expensive hotel.  It was very exciting for all of us because several scenes from the movie 愛, which we all saw together, were filmed at the hotel, and even at the bar itself.  Emily and I did a dramatic reenactment of one of the scenes when we thought no one was looking, so it was twice as embarrassing when our entire group walked up to us in the middle of it.  Here is a picture of some of us at the swanky bar:

Gene, Becca, Ginnie, Enni, me, and Jack

Okay, that's it for now.  I am sad to be missing beer bike - it will be starting at Rice in about 15 hours.  加油 Jones!!  Sweep!

Also, here's something pretty:

This part of campus is very near the building where I have class

Goodnight!