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A Farewell To Taiwan

// March 14th, 2011 // No Comments » // Taiwan, Travel

Taiwan and I finally parted ways last week after a brief love affair over the winter months in late 2010 – early 2011. I spent 3 months studying Chinese at National Taiwan University as a recipient of the Taiwan Huayu Mandarin Enrichment Scholarship. While my time in classes was both enjoyable and beneficial to my Chinese, what will really leave an impact on me are the many unique life experiences Taiwan provided in those short 3 months.

It started with the violin. In my first 2 weeks in Taipei, I asked around and looked for an opportunity to play with a local symphony. I quickly found Apo Hsu and the National Taiwan Normal University Symphony who adopted me into their ensemble (and even lent me a violin!). Two weeks later, I performed with them at the National Concert Hall! I would have never imagined in my life that I would have this kind of opportunity, but within my first month in Taiwan is showed up at my doorstep. I wrote about the concert in detail in a previous post.

A couple weeks later, my friend from Montreal (and girlfriend for a short time) Amanda came to visit for Christmas and New Years. Within a few days, we confessed our feelings for each other and decided to start dating, even though we knew it would be 5 months until we could see each other again. Nonetheless, we had an incredible 2 weeks together, and we celebrated both of our first Christmases away from home as well as Taiwan’s 100th New Year together! It was a very special time to be in Taiwan, and it was particularly special to me to have someone I loved to share it with. However, in March we broke up after I left Taiwan and moved to Beijing – the distance was too much, and it simply would not work. Though heartbroken still, I will always remember Taiwan as the first place I truly fell in love with someone.

In January, I flew over to Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Swing Festival and had a blast dancing all weekend long and catching up with old dancer friends from all over Asia. Another fantastic weekend, and also a chance to renew my Taiwan visa since I had left the country and re-entered!

A few weeks later and it was Chinese New Year, so I hopped down to Kenting with Vlad (my Russian/Dutch classmate) and spent a few days surfing and driving scooters in the most beautiful place in Taiwan. It was a paradise down there! Imagine surfing during the first week of February! Afterwards we headed north into the mountains and spent another few days searching for hotsprings, only to find out most had been destroyed the past few years due to typhoons and landslides. We did have some unique experiences though, including dancing in a traditional aboriginal wedding ceremony and exploring an old abandoned and destroyed resort club.

One more week of classes and then I was done. I still had two weeks until I would move to Beijing, so I took advantage of my last bit of time in Taiwan to do make a few more memories. On February 25, Taipei Swing threw a party for me and we danced the night away. The next morning all the dancers and I visited Jiufen, a tiny town that has now become a huge tourist area filled with many traditional Taiwanese snacks and souvenirs. A few days later, I took a day trip down to Taroko National Park drove through the entire park all day on a scooter. It was one of the most beautiful days I’ve seen in Taiwan, and I even got to spend a few hours relaxing in an old abandoned natural hot spring.

The very last unique experience in Taiwan was on my 2nd to last day – I got to be an extra in Ang Lee’s new film “Life of Pi” based on the novel by Yann Martel. The movie was being shot an the old airport in Taizhong, and on March 3, I got up at 2:30 am to catch a bus down to the studio. Along with about 40 other foreigners, we were dressed up in 1950′s sly swimsuits and places around a pool, the scene being the famous “Picine Molitar,” where Pi (the main character) got his name. I got in several close up shots and even got to chat some with Li An himself as well as a couple of the lead actors! We had to spend a lot of time waiting around, and it was a pretty freezing day with a constant cold breeze (and barely any clothes on), but it was still a very unique and memorable experience. I left with a pretty bad sunburn, a bit of cash for doing it, and the hopes that I might actually be in a movie for a few seconds! Check it out – Life of Pi, 2012 (if I’m in it, I’m the one in the skimpy brown and white striped swimsuit).

Oh I almost forgot to mention – the last couple months in Taiwan, I had the pleasure of jamming with the David Chen and the Muddy Basin Ramblers, a New Orleans style jazz band in Taipei. As a group of expats, we played several performances together, one specially with the Taipei swing dancers. Our time together was short, but I had a blast playing with the Ramblers. Thanks David for the awesome times together!

Well Taiwan, that’s all for now. Who knows when I’ll get to visit again. I have to say, you gave a whole lot in just 3 months, many amazing experiences that I will never forget. It’s too bad we couldn’t have stayed together longer – who knows what could have happened!

天使之歌 (Songs from the Angels)

// December 19th, 2010 // No Comments » // Chinese, Taiwan

Last Monday night, December 13, I had the remarkable and completely unexpected privilege of performing with the National Taiwan Normal University Symphony Orchestra in Taipei’s famous National Concert Hall (國家音樂廳). By far, it was one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever experienced. The NTNU symphony is a remarkably accomplished and talented group of undergraduate musicians, and had I known just how incredible they were before auditioning, I may not have even asked! Even in the very back, I still felt like I didn’t belong amongst such talented students! Their ability to react instantly to what the conductor asks and bring the music alive was just as impressive as their remarkable precision and tightness as an ensemble. This all goes without even mentioning the concert hall, which is by far the most beautiful and breathtaking performance hall I have ever played in to date. In addition, Maestro Lawrence Golan, conductor and tenured full professor at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, guest conducted the performance, yet another honor to work with such an accomplished and world-renowned conductor. I still cannot believe that within just one month of living in Taipei I have been lucky enough to experience such an unforgettable privilege!

The whole thing began just a few weeks after arriving in Taipei. I discovered the ensemble online and decided to ask the conductor, Maestro Apo Ching-Hsin Hsu, if I could come audition for the orchestra. I did not even have a violin, but Apo had one I could borrow. We met on November 25 and within just a few minutes of checking out the violin she agreed to let me play. It was a daunting task because we only had about 2 weeks to prepare for the concert, so she put me in the back of the 2nd violins and handed me some music.

Over the next two weeks, I joined the orchestra in rehearsals preparing for the concert. At the first rehearsal, Apo actually made me introduce myself in Chinese, so I got up and in rather broken Chinese told my story, that I was studying Chinese at NTU, have played the violin for a long time, etc.  At first, I kind of got the vibe from other students that they were wondering just what business I had in this orchestra, and given how talented the group is and how hard each student has had to work to get there, I could understand. But after a few rehearsals and a bit of chatting in between with some of the students, I found the group to be a fun and welcoming bunch just like every other person I have met in Taiwan.  In particular, I have found Apo to be the kind of conductor that I wish every musician could have the opportunity to work with, bringing a sense of humor and warmth to the group that sets an atmosphere for making amazing music. She embodies the spirit of the music in the room, making rehearsals as much a joy as they are work.

It has been a blast and such a unique experience as the only foreigner in the orchestra.  Rehearsals are all in Chinese, which while at first was a little intimidating has now become one of my favorite aspects.  I am now at a level where I can understand most things being said and speed really isn’t much of a problem.  The most interesting part of rehearsals that I discovered was just how little you need language when you have music.  If I paid attention, I almost could predict exactly what Apo was going to say because I could tell what she wanted from the orchestra. Music itself truly is a language, and while I’ve said it before, I gained a much deeper understanding of what that means through this experience.

About the Concert:

The title was “天使之歌 (Songs from the Angels),” and the lineup included:
Samuel Barber: Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Tsang-Houei Hsu: Nu-guan-zi, Op.14
Tsang-Houei Hsu: Duex Mouvements pour Orchestre a Cordes, Op. 24
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

The soloist for the 4th movement of Mahler and Hsu’s Nu-guan-zi was NTNU’s professor 陳允宜. The two pieces by Tsang-Houei Hsu are based on traditional Taiwanese themes and sound very “Asian” in that they use a lot of pentatonic scales and interesting percussion.  I found it quite interesting because it reminded me of how Dvorak took a lot of native themes from North America and put them into his New World Symphony.  Hsu’s music had many similar elements in that it was classically structured but filled with local melodies, only very different themes which were often more rhythmically based.  In general, the contrast of Mahler’s romantic symphony with Barber’s one-movement symphony and Hsu’s traditional Chinese themes was one of the most international concerts I’ve experienced and a suprisingly good match together.

The Korean War Memorial & why I love studying Chinese

// November 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Chinese, Korea

Once again the months go by without an update, but I had an experience a couple weeks ago that I just wanted to write about.  I’m back at VT for my final year and got back into the groove of things much faster this time than last semester.  Coming back from Asia this time wasn’t near as rough and I managed to settle down quickly.

Anyway, on October 29, I visited the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials in DC while I was attending the National Collegiate Honors Conference.  It was particularly significant because about 2 months ago I was in Seoul and visited the Korean War Museum there.  The contrast was pretty intense.  First of all, the DC memorial is just that – a memorial.  It is rather small, but done in such an elegant way that it makes you stop and think, and remember.  I really liked it, and the subtle symbols all around it make it easy to spend a long time there without even realizing it.  In contrast, the museum in Seoul is enormous and is truly a museum and not just a memorial.  There are two long outdoor walkways that each go for about 200 yards with the names of every soldier killed in the war.  The shear enormity is a little overwhelming.  All around the structure are old tanks, trucks, planes, and even a submarine that were used in the war.  Inside the huge main building are lots of rooms that each highlight a different specific detail about the war.  Take a day there and you’ll leave with a much better understanding of the entire Korean conflict.  In general, the biggest thing I can take away from visiting both is that perspective is crucial.  To us, we lost many soldiers in that war, but the freedom won was worth the cost, and we will always remember and value those lost, which is reflected in the memorial in DC.  To the South Koreans, this was the equivalent of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War combined.  This was THE war, and they will forever remember not only the cost of that war, but also the extreme details of how they achieved the nation they currently enjoy, so they built a full museum.

Now onto the awesome moment I had at the Korean War Memorial in DC.  As I approached the very front of the memorial, I noticed a Chinese man looking a bit puzzled as he read the large words etched into the wall:  ”Freedom Is Not Free.”  I approached him and asked if I could help.  He asked, “What exactly does this mean?” in sort of a broken Chinese accent.  I had to pause for a moment.  What a question.  I wanted to respond with, “Everything,” but I knew he wouldn’t quite understand.  Instead I explained how we had to pay a price for freedom, and that price was the lives lost in the war.  Then I asked if he was Chinese, and when he said yes I said, “Zhe ge yisi shi ‘ziyou bu shi mianfei’,”   literally “freedom is not free” in Chinese.  He paused for a second then immediately said, “Ah…you…you speak Chinese? Ah…yes, I get it.”  We chatted for a bit.  I explained I had studied Chinese for a while and he said he was a student from a college in Beijing.  After inviting me to come teach at his college, we parted ways.

What a magnificent moment that was.  It took me a while to realize that we were sort of on opposite sides of that warm but I was able to explain why we fought in it in his native language.  This is why I love studying language, and Chinese in particular.  For us, when someone learns English, we think nothing of it, but to the Chinese, when a foreigner learns their language, it’s as if you just did the impossible.  There is an immediate surge of respect and value for your effort in learning their language, and the mutual understanding you have for each other is ineffable.  I keep running into moments like these and they are some of the most unique and memorable experiences of my life.  I can’t wait for the next one.

Trip to Inner Mongolia (内蒙古)

// June 27th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // China, Harbin, Travel

Well, I’ve been so busy that before I had a chance to write about Harbin, we went on a trip to Inner Mongolia. I’ll have to write about Harbin another time. The trip was from June 19 to 21, 2009. We traveled by train and bus and visited many sites during our two days in the region. I guess I’ll just take you through the events one by one.

Friday night we all met in the lobby downstairs then took a bus to the train station. We boarded the train around 9:00 pm, and then Max and I promptly began writing songs in Chinese with the help of Jay’s guitar. Within 5 minutes we had a tune down and performed it, which resulted in a rather continuous flow of singing every song anyone knew until the wee hours of the morning. The train was a blast, although I think we definitely annoyed some people trying to get some sleep.

We arriving early in the morning in a city called 海拉尔 (hailaer) and were immediately welcomed by our tour company, “Flying Tourism Co. Ltd China, Harbin” (飞场旅游) who gave us yellow tourism hats with the company logo on it and a white silk-like scarf. We then went to a buffet style breakfast restaurant that had traditional food from the area. Most memorable for me was the milk tea that sort of had a flavor of butter, milk, and very light coffee. After breakfast, we went to 海拉尔战争纪念园 (Hailaer War Memorial). The building is an old Japanese Base that has been converted into a museum, and inside was some very disturbing facts about what the Japanese did to the Chinese. Oddly enough, there was a shooting range at the end (which some students tried out) and a blue screen where you could stand and look like you were flying over the city (a little out of place for a war memorial if you ask me, but eh, it was fun).

After the war memorial we went to a Mongolian tourist facility that is run by local Mongolians and set up as a traditional Mongolian festival house. There was one main tent and several smaller surrounding ones. When we arrived, we were greeted by the Mongolians and each took a celebratory shot of 白酒 (bai jiu). After the ceremony, we went to the back of the facility where the animals were kept and rode horses (well, not by ourselves, but it was still cool to get to ride one even with a guy in front guiding). Several of us, including me, rode the camel ride for 30 kuai (about $4.20, and totally worth it – definitely the highlight of the day). You don’t realize how high those animals stand until you get on one, and they make the strangest noise I’ve ever heard an animal make (kind of like those things from Star Wars that Luke kills and crawls inside to survive in the cold). During lunch, we ate traditional Mongolian food, which included among other things some incredibly delicious lamb. They bring it to you as just a plate of lamb chunks then you grab a piece and cut off what you want with a knife. During lunch, the Mongolians had a small show where they sung songs and played the “Morin khuur” (sort of a Mongolian cello with a horse head carved in the nut at the top). In Chinese it is known as the matouqin (马头琴). They say that when it is played, the horses outside cry.

After lunch, we got back on the bus to head on to Inner Mongolia. We took a pit stop for a group photo, and after the photo a few people started running towards the hill in the distance (I still don’t know what sparked this). Eventually everyone joined in and we ended up running a least a mile out into the field. From there all you could see for miles was a beautiful rolling prairie. I took a bunch of photos in an attempt to capture the exact photo from the Microsoft desktop screen.

We then rode the bus for about an hour until we came upon a traditional Mongolian home on the side of the road. We all got out and started chatting with the family that lived there. Surprisingly, their Mandarin was incredibly clear and we could understand most of what they said. I went inside one of the 3 tents and found several more students chatting with an older woman. She said she was 60 and had 4 daughters that lived in the city. She was a lovely lady and welcomed us to have some milk tea and crackers that were sort of like a dried cheese. Outside they had a small wind turbine and inside under the TV was a bunch of car batteries and parts of a CPU that converted and stored the electricity. I was pretty impressed to see such a rather advanced set up functioning in such a poor environment.

We rode on for about another hour and a half until we arrived in 内蒙古 (Inner Mongolia) and went to our hotel. Everyone was pretty beat, and I ended up playing cards then going to bed. The next morning we rode out to 呼伦湖 (Hu Lun Lake) which turned out to be a huge dried up area with 4-Wheelers and a Dune Buggy, so we drove them around and got covered in mud for the morning. After the morning fun, we headed to the final destination of our trip – the Russian border. When we first arrived, we were told we would have 15 minutes to walk around and take photos from about 300 yards out, then would have to leave. After about 20 minutes of walking around, we were finally allowed to get closer and actually go inside the Chinese-side main building. Afterwards we went down the rode to a huge courtyard that was filled with human-size Babushkas all around one gigantic Babushka in the middle. The Babushkas were all painted with different people and places (mostly famous Americans). After about 30 minutes of hanging out there, we got back on the buses and headed for the hotel. We grabbed some quick dinner then went to the train station for our long ride back to Harbin. It was about a 12 hour ride through the night, and then we had the morning to sleep and prepare for afternoon classes. It was an event-packed weekend, but one heck of a good time.

Chinese 101

// July 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // China, Dalian

Since I’ve been studying Chinese for a little while now, I thought I’d give you a small example of what the language is like so you can get a taste of what it is like to study it.  First of all, there is no alphabet – only characters that each represent a word.  So for those of us who weren’t born a native speaker, we have to use a system called “pinyin” to pronounce new words.  Pinyin is a phonetic system that essentially uses English letters to spell the sound of words.  The biggest difference here is that Chinese is a tonal language with 5 tones: flat (1), rising (2), low (3), falling (4), and neutral (5).  This means that when pronouncing every word, you must raise or lower the pitch of your voice to indicate the meaning.  Tones are extremely important in determining the meaning of a word.  For example, the word for mother is “mā” (flat tone), while the word for horse is “mǎ” (low tone).  The characters for these two words are different as well:  mother is 妈 while horse is 马. 

The interesting thing in Chinese is that while at first the characters may all seem random, once you study for a while you begin to discover thousands of connections between them all.  Most of the time, characters are made up of smaller radicals that each have a certain meaning.  For example, the radical for “woman” or “female” is 女.  In the character for mother, you can see that this radical is present on the left: 妈. Notice also that it has the radical for horse: 马. This is in the word because the sound of “mother” is similar to “horse.”  In fact, for most words, some radicals indicate meaning while others often indicate the sound of the word.  Therefore, while there is no alphabet, you can often guess the sound or meaning of a word by looking at its radicals.  For example, the following words all sound like “ma” just with different tones: 马, 吗, 妈, 玛, and 码.  See the horses? 

Some of the most interesting words come from more abstract ideas.  For example, the word for “righteousness” actually has a Biblical reference.  The character for “me” is 我 and the character for lamb is 羊.  In the word righteousness, the “lamb” is placed above “me,” as Jesus was sacrificed for me: 義. Some words come from more ancient meanings.  For example, the word for “immediate” is 马上, which literally translates to “on horseback.”  If you think about it, until modern ages the fastest way to do anything was indeed on horseback. 

As you learn more and more words, the web of connections between them grows tremendously.  Actually, most languages work in the same way, including English.  Consider the English suffix “-ology.”  Any English speaker can quickly recite several different subjects of study that all end in “-ology.”  This suffix is a common link between those words that indicates the meaning “the study of…”

I hope that this helps you see why I am interested in learning Chinese.  Every new word is another link in the web and I find it incredibly intriguing.  The best part is when you actually start using it to talk with people, which is why I’m in China now!