Chinese Teacher Training

Today I had the pleasure of assisting with ICLP's Chinese teacher training class. ICLP offers the training on weekends for people interested in learning how to teach Chinese. The teachers in training got to practice going over a lesson with my classmates and me. Not only was the activity a lot of fun, but it also gave me a chance to really appreciate how amazing ICLP's teachers are and how difficult teaching Chinese as a foreign language is.

The Hike

Just came back from my three day hike of Hsue Shan, the second tallest mountain in Taiwan. Hsue Shan, which means Snow Mountain in Chinese, was referred to as Mt. Sylvia by Western explorers in past centuries and as Tsugitakayama by the Japanese, which means "second highest mountain" in their language. The East Peak is over 10,000 feet high and the Main Peak rises to a staggering 12,749 feet above sea level. The hike is considered the hardest in Taiwan and the most beautiful on an island known for its beautiful scenery. The hike was grueling, the mountain vistas breathtaking, and the trip a lot of fun.

All together the our group consisted of about 20 students, 2 teachers, and our experienced guide. Amongst the students were two soldiers, a doctor, and a girl from the Rocky Mountains so I felt pretty safe. The first day we only hiked two hours from the trail head to the first cabin where we got an early sleep. The lovely pine forests reminded me of the White Mountains in New Hampshire where I hiked as a boy. The second day we woke up at 3am and hiked to the second cabin, located on a grassy slope on the mountain. After a quick break to take in the scenery, we continued hiking switchback after switchback until we reached the fir forest higher up on the mountain. From there we hiked up for several hours until reaching the rocky stretch to the top. The last stretch to the peak was barren and rocky, covered only with tough little bushes. In a month all of it would be covered with snow. Unfortunately, 15 minutes from the Main Peak, my altitude sickness flamed up. I was dizzy and could barely breathe and decided not to climb any further. Still, I took in the views from where I was. Then we headed back down to the second cabin. I was surprised to actually get radio reception on the trail. We spent the second night at the cabin. The third morning we were up at 4:30am and soon hiking down towards where we started, with a short diversion to reach the East Peak, which offered a spectacular view of the sunrise.

From the trail head, we piled back into the bus and headed down the rough mountain roads back to Yilan and from Yilan we headed back to Taipei.

Hsue Shan (Mt. Sylvia)

Taipei International Flora Expo

Sick in Taiwan

Last Tuesday I came down with a nasty stomach virus. I had to miss two days of school, was sick for almost a week, and was in a lot of pain for most of that week. Fortunately, the illness did give me a chance to see a doctor in Taiwan and learn more about the Taiwanese medical system. Especially given the healthcare debate in America, Taiwan's system is worth studying.

Even though I am not a citizen, I am a student at at the University so I was able to use the University health clinic without issue. While there, I saw a doctor and four prescriptions filled for a total of 120 NTD or about four American dollars, and this was without insurance. With insurance it would have been free. While things are slightly cheaper on campus, off campus I've heard things are not that much more expensive. Another foreign student I know spent a night in a hospital, got seen by a doctor, got some shots, and got four prescriptions filled the next morning for a grand total of about 30 American dollars. Another foreign student I know got an x-ray for the equivalent of about 30 American dollars.

This leads me to the conclusion that not only is healthcare free in Taiwan, but health care costs must be dramatically lower. I did a little research online to find out more.

In Taiwan, everyone is covered by the National Health Insurance, which is payed for by income taxes. Taiwan spends less than a thousand dollars on healthcare per capita compared to the United States which spends more than seven thousand dollars per capita.

Funeral Procession

Few sounds are more eerie than that of the funeral processions which pass by Xinhai Road. In accordance with the Chinese almanac, funerals are best held on certain days of the year. At least once a week, one of those days will come to pass and dozens of funerals will be held in Taipei. As one of the larger funeral homes is near the University, the long funeral processions can often be seen winding along nearby Xinhai Road, each one consisting of dozens of blue pickup trucks decorated with flowers and ribbons with bands, loudspeakers, drummers, and wailers belting out music as they zip pass. The music is unbelievably eerie and says to the world, "Today a man or woman is laid to rest". It reminds me of Louisiana style funeral bands, though the Eastern variant is far less festive. One day in my newspaper reading class, a student asked the teacher what the eerie music outside was and she explained the connection between funerals, tradition, and the Chinese almanac. She taught us the names of the different types of funerals in Chinese: sea burial, cremation, land burial, and sky burial. In the West we can commonly see the first three, but what is the last one, the so-called sky burial? Specific to Tibetan culture, the sky burial consists of presenting the body of the deceased to vultures. This is seen as an act of compassion in Tibetan Buddhism. Furthermore as the vultures fly around the world, the deceased is scattered as well, kind of like letting ashes scatter in the wind. The ritual is often accompanied by specific chanting and rituals performed by Tibetan monks.

Hello!!!

In the "minding the curve" talk given to all Light Fellows, we learned that student's attitudes in studying abroad often follow a curve (see a few posts back). In keeping with "minding the curve", I try to remember that I'm still coming up from the low point and thus am prone to get frustrated with the cultural differences between America and Taiwan. Lately, I have been increasingly frustrated by a language barrier that at this point has more to do with my facial features than my actual language abilities. When people see a foreigner, they are likely to assume that the foreigner speaks English and that the foreigner does not speak Mandarin. True, most foreigners, especially those from the West, are either fluent in English or proficient in it, and most do not speak Mandarin.

The problem is that young people in Taipei often refuse to speak Mandarin to me. They will either answer questions (asked in Mandarin) in broken English, not answer at all, or say in Mandarin, "Sorry, I don't know English". It can be very frustrating. I'm not against people practicing their English, but when I ask questions of strangers, I'm usually in need of clear answers. If someone knows 3 words of English, they are not likely to be able to answer my question clearly. I don't want to hear "Hello!!" as an answer to "Are you down with the bench press?" Or silence as an answer to "Does this bus go to Taipei Station?" Or worst of all "Sorry, I don' know English" as a response to "Do I pay coming on or off the bus?"

It can be even more frustrating when I'm trying to talk to a neighbor and I'm genuinely interested in their point of view and such and such a topic, but they insist on replacing Chinese words with mispronounced English words midway through a sentence, rendering the meaning of the sentence difficult to decipher. For instance, imagine the phrase "After the war they were..." spoken in Chinese with a mispronounced English word finishing the sentence. I thought he said he was free after the war, when he later revealed that he was a refugee after the war!

I should add that while in southern cities, the countryside, or talking to older folks, I have not had this problem. People just speak mandarin, speak clearly, and assume I know what they're saying. Which is a big relief when I need clear directions or want to know if the meal includes a drink.

I should also put my own experience in perspective. Asian American students or visiting tourists and businesspeople from other parts of Asia are immediately assumed to be Taiwanese. Many Americans have lectured me on the supposed marked facial differences between Koreans and Chinese and Japanese and Vietnamese. "Oh, he's Korean, you can tell by the face." Well, someone should tell people here that, because they seem as unable to differentiate between Asian nationalities by facial characteristics as I am. Furthermore, even if someone is Chinese or Taiwanese, if they grew up in America or Europe they are likely to not be completely fluent in Chinese. However, the Taiwanese will still insist on speaking Mandarin at full speed, complete with idioms even after the unlucky foreigner has protested repeatedly that she grew up in America and is not able to understand Chinese at that pace. So I don't have it the worst.

Media in Taiwan

Of all the classes I am taking now, my favorite and without a doubt the hardest is "News: Listen, Speak, and Read" in which we read through newspaper articles, listen to recordings of them being read aloud, and discuss them. Taking the class is a great way to build vocabulary, learn formal sentence patterns, and learn a lot about how current affairs are viewed Taiwanese newspapers. In addition to that, I often listen to the radio while cooking or doing chores, which I feel has been a great help to my study of Chinese. But what really made me want to write about the media in Taiwan was the fascinating and quite humorous guest lecture I saw yesterday.

The lecture was on the impact the Taiwanese media has on the upcoming mayoral elections. 60% of Taiwan's population lives in the 5 biggest cities,therefore in addition to the mayoral elections can have a large impact on Taiwanese politics, they are also good indicators of what the current political climate is and which Party is more likely to win the national elections in 2012. The two main political parties are the Nationalist Party (whose color is blue ) and the People's Progressive Party (whose color is green). In addition, there is a New Party (which is different from but often sides with the Nationalist Party) and a Green Party (similar to Green parties in the West). The Nationalist Party (the KMT) is more popular in northern Taiwan, as well as much of central and eastern Taiwan. The People's Progressive Party (PPP) is strongest in the south and parts of the northeast. Generally speaking, the PPP is more critical of China and less willing to establish ties with China while the KMT is more willing to build Taiwan's relationship with China. The PPP can be considered more progressive on issues such as the environment and human rights, but in other ways would not fit into the mold of a progressive party in the West. For instance, the PPP supports strengthening the military to warn away a hostile Beijing, while the more conservative KMT favors more demilitarization.

Taiwan has an enormous media industry for such a small island. Thousands of newspapers, eight 24-hour news television stations, and countless radio stations. By comparison, America, with 300 million people, has four 24-hour news television stations. Taiwan also has the worlds highest concentration of satellite equipped news gathering vans. Apparently, one news station had a lot of money and thought the vans looked pretty, so they bought over twenty. Other news stations did not want to be left out so they all bought some too! Today, Taiwan has 86 such vans, meaning that reporters have the resources to cover just about any story. The lecturer showed us a clip from the news which basically dragged out for five minutes the story of a girl somewhere in Taiwan with a great figure. He said this was mild for Taiwanese tabloid-ism. Some of the radio shows and magazines can put the Enquirer to shame. When it comes to politics, reporting is rarely neutral and can be a lot of fun to watch. In short, the lecture was interesting and lot's of fun.