The Beauty that is Chinese Characters

Week Two of Mandarin school and the fun continues.  I'm amazed by how many characters I've learned (and memorized) up to this point - my last count was approximately 200 characters (silent happy dance and Woot Woot).  However, there are things I discover about this language everyday that make me wish that I had not abandoned it so quickly as a child.  One of them, which I continue to unravel as I absorb more and more characters, is the artform in constructing a Chinese character.

A brief lesson on the history of the written Chinese language.  Chinese characters evolved from pictograms, simple words like fire, man, female, wood and field all came from what the word looked like in nature.

Fire - looks like a bonfire.
Man - looks like a person walking.
Female - looks like a person with wide hips.
Wood - looks like the branches of a tree.
Field - looks like how rice paddies are organized.

However, throughout what was China at the time, each kingdom and territory had their own written and spoken form of Chinese.  It wasn't until the Qin Dynasty in 200 BC that the Emperor decided to standardize the written language so that people from one end of China could communicate with people on the other end, regardless of what dialect they subscribed to.

Since standardization, the base words have been used to create new words and characters.  These base words - 214 characters also known as The Chinese Radicals (which a friend of mine remarked would be an awesome name for an indie band) - would be used in different formations to create other characters that would represent other things.  It's in fact how I've been able to memorize so many characters - is by breaking them down to their basic meaning and remembering what order they appear in the word.

Take for example the word for "to speak":

To Speak (shuo in pinyin) is made up of the characters for Words, Points, Mouth and Man.
The words are coming from the points leaving the man's mouth.

Cool, right?  It's similar to word construction in languages that use alphabets, but there's something more poetic to written Traditional Chinese.  Each pen stroke has meaning (which I have yet to master) and each character contributes to a canvas of different elements to create a beautiful picture.

Here's another cool example of "dormitory" (two words):

Dormitory (su she in pin yin) is broken into two characters.  Su is made up of Roof, People and Hundred.
She is made up of People, Shield and Enclosure.  Many people living under a shielded enclosure - not that hard to memorize.

Finally, my favourite (albeit personal) interpretation of a Chinese character is the word for "love":

Love (Ai in pin yin) is a character you likely recognize because millions of non-Chinese people have it tattooed on their bodies somewhere.
Surprisingly, I find that the character is made up of the radicals for Claws, Cover, Heart and Follow.
While the latter two are logical (follow your heart with love), the first two are quite comical - love would certainly claw at your heart, so you need to have some sort of cover to protect it.

Again, the latter interpretation is purely my own personal thoughts on the word Love (not that I am at all bitter at the concept of Love).

If you're interested, here are all 214 radical characters:

The first time I saw this sheet, I nearly crapped myself.

When I stumble across more words that are of comical note, I will make sure to share with you all.

Celebrating Three Anniversaries that Changed My Life

There's something refreshing about the beginning of September.  It's the beginning of the school year  and having been a geek all my life, it was always something I looked forward to.  It's the beginning of fall, my favourite season, especially in North America; the air is crisp enough to wear a jacket (I have an unhealthy obsession with jackets) and sleeping with the windows open requires that extra blanket so you don't catch a cold.

This September marks some important anniversaries in my life.  One involves gaining independence, one involves a loss and one involves a journey of discovery.

It was ten years ago this September that I packed up a minivan full of my possessions, drove down the 401 past hundreds of farm fields to a small city called London, Ontario.  Here, I would attend an amazing university, the University of Western Ontario.  Here is where I would gain independence - no one was accountable for my grades, my bills or how I lived my life except for me.  While there's not much of that Orientation Week that I remember (most likely due to the copious amount of alcohol that was consumed), I remember meeting a floormate who would turn out to be my roommate for the remaining three years and still an incredibly good friend today.  More friends were gained along the way, some were lost, but overall, I was lucky enough to meet some fascinating individuals, some of whom I have had the great fortune of traveling with on my trip around the world.

It was two years ago this weekend that I talked to my grandmother for the last time.  Having battled lung and bone cancer for over a year and a half, she died shortly after collapsing on her way back to her room at the hospital in Los Angeles.  Luckily, I was fortunate enough to have planned a trip to visit her that Labour Day weekend and had a nice chat before she passed.  It was my grandmother that really encouraged me to reconnect with my father's side of the family.  It could have been guilt from all of the mean things that were said and done during my parents' divorce, but her one message to me throughout the entire time she was battling her illness was that I needed to patch things up with my dad.  If it wasn't for her urging and what I believe is her continued guidance on the matter, it wouldn't have led me to where I am today.

And it was six months ago today that I quietly sipped on a gin and tonic while watching Toronto disappear from my window as I sat on my midnight flight to Taipei.  Half excited, a quarter drunk and the remainder anxious, I had no idea what was in store for me in my year off.  I had left a comfortable life for the unknown and having always been the person with a plan, not having one made me feel empty and lost.  It never occurred to me that I was pretty empty and lost all along, even with my plans.  What I was missing was family and having had the chance to be with my dad's side of my family 24/7 for two months made me realize how much I needed these people in my life.  It also marked the start of an incredible journey that would take me to new places I had never seen before like Tibet, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Scotland.  I've experienced some great moments like celebrating with thousands of Spaniards on La Ramblas after their Euro Cup win or taking a dip in Loch Ness while the sun blazed down on us sipping whiskey on the beach.

This weekend has certainly been a time for reflection - this perfect storm of anniversaries have made me appreciate that saying, "everything happens for a reason."  Within the last six months, I've learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses - these next six months will be about how I take that knowledge and determine what I want to do moving forward.  May more eureka moments occur, and may more truths shed light on paths that need to be followed.

Alas, Tiger Student, I am not.

This is my small break after six hours of prepping for my second week of school.  After what seems like a lifetime of writing and repeating Chinese characters over and over again in my practice book, my right hand has cramped into a claw-like form.  I might as well be half velociraptor.

I must admit, this week was quite the roller coaster of emotions and experiences.  From the anxiety of the first day and seeing if I was actually placed properly into a class of my skill level, to the frustration of hours upon hours of written homework to improve on my writing abilities, and finally, to the joy of completing my first exam without feeling like I bombed the entire thing - I'm very glad this week is over.

I enrolled in the program at the advice of my father.  In spending so much time here in Taiwan, it would be a shame not to learn something in the process.  Having left Taiwan before entering elementary school, I had limited exposure to reading and writing Chinese.  Most of my ability remains in speaking the language, and even that sometimes is more Chinglish than actual conversational Mandarin.

So it was a shock when I got my placement exams back and they placed me in the level 7 section (of which there are 10 levels) of the program at National Taiwan University.  I immediately thought they had made some sort of mistake; nonetheless, I would go and try it out, see where my comfort level was and hopefully fit in with the other students.

After six months of not having a daily routine, it was nice to get back into one again.  Normally, I would wake up at a late hour and laze around the house, go to the gym, write a couple of paragraphs of a short story at the local S-bucks and head to dinner with the family.  Now, I am up every morning early, having breakfast, heading off to school to do a couple of hours of studying before my class starts at noon.

My class is an interesting mix of people - three Japanese, one Indonesian, one American and me.  We are all at different skill levels in reading, writing and speaking, but within the same level of comprehension of vocabulary and sentence structure.  Each of us have our own weaknesses, but we have found a nice groove helping each other out during group exercises and conversational breaks.

Our teacher is a lovely early 40s woman named Mrs. Shen.  She's what you'd picture a teacher to be - patient, happy and always eager to help you learn something new.  I've asked her for extra work (in an attempt to try to catch up to writing at a proficient level) and she's more than happily obliged, even helping me out with my phonetics, which is in dire need of assistance.

As an eager beaver student, I quickly rush to the library after my three hour class is over everyday to re-write all my notes.  It's my way of memorizing the vocabulary that we learned that day - you have to keep re-reading and re-writing the words in order to memorize the characters, there's really no other way to learn.  I'm there for another three hours as I take the extra step of teaching myself the bo/po/mo/fo phonetics technique and reacquaint myself with how to determine the intonations again.  

All this preparation is done because we are tested at the beginning of every class on the previous class' material.  If you don't do your homework or at least review what was taught the day before, you're totally fucked on the dictation quiz.  I've been doing pretty average on these quizzes so far, even with the hours of prep time I've been putting in.

By mid-week, my brain is spinning from all the new words I've learned.  This chapter is all about things around the house and while it is great to learn how to read and write this vocabulary, it's not so practical if I ever want to use it in business.  The phrase: "Put the bowls away because the kitchen is smelly," is likely not something you'll throw out in a meeting.

It felt like an eternity, but once Friday hit, I felt like a sack of Chinese characters had landed on my head; my noggin was about to explode with how many new characters I had absorbed in just that one week.  Our week-end exam was almost an hour long testing our reading comprehension, writing skills with a full composition section and a question and answer section with our teacher.  I walked out of there knowing I didn't fail miserably, but probably scoring around an 85.  Tiger Student I had hoped to be, alas Tiger Student I am not.

Having said that, this experience has been fun.  There are "aha!" moments where I know exactly how to write the words by piecing together the root words.  There are also "it's all coming back to me now" moments where I feel like I've resurrected a memory of Chinese school in Toronto from the deepest darkest recesses of my mind.  Then there are the "wow, I did it!" moments - something I haven't felt in a while when it comes to learning something new.

This is just after one week, there's eleven more weeks of this fun.

Now back to more vocab - there are 35 new words and phrases to remember for my test tomorrow.  Aiya.  

Reflections of a month and half in Taipei

I'm lacking a bit of focus today as I am hungover and in a frenzy trying to pack for my trip to Tibet.  Hopefully, sitting down and writing down my experiences so far in Taipei will help me regain some focus and kill some time as I wait for my laundry to dry.


It was March 2nd that I left Toronto.  Sitting on that plane, I wasn't sure if the queazy feeling was the excitement of leaving my life behind or from the three gin and tonics that I had with dinner.  I was coming back to Taipei for the fifth time in my adult life but this time, for a longer stay than my past four visits combined.  


My first couple of days here, I was determined to relax - the weeks leading up to my departure were packed with dinners with friends, packing up my place and making sure all of my affairs were in order before I left.  I can safely say that I was more useless than a three dollar bill - all I did was eat, sleep, shower and more sleep.


Living with my family here has made me really appreciate my Taiwanese roots.  I've never had dinners with family back in Canada, but here, I sit down with my grandmother, my dad, my stepmom, and various extended family members every single night.  We have great conversations over dinner that is prepared by my grandmother's maid, Tina, and the food is incredible.  All the dishes are my grandmother's recipes and since she's too old to cook up a storm anymore, she's passed them all to Tina, who's skill to replicate them is beyond words.  And of course, with dinner, everyone drinks.  Shit, I thought I drank a lot when I worked at advertising, I think I've in fact drank more here than I did back in Toronto.  

Mmm...Liquid dinners.

With all this food and drinking, my clothes were quietly hinting to me that I needed to get my ass to the gym.  I think I heard my jeans scream during my second week here - they weren't kidding around when they named them skinny jeans.  I first started running outside, but with March / April weather consisting of rain, followed by more rain, I started searching for indoor facilities.  Thankfully, my dad helped me find a city government gym that is a bus ride away and a really cheap monthly pass - 1500 NTD ($50 CDN) for 30 visits.  I think when I come back in September, I'll try one of the other locations as they all have different and cool facilities - my gym had a rock climbing wall and archery court, the one near my grandmother's place has a gun range.  Not sure how firing a gun counts as a workout, but I shouldn't judge.

My gym pass - 30 for 30!  That's dedication.

Besides the gym, I spend most of my days wandering around or grabbing a coffee at Starbucks and reading a nice book.  I've read five books since I've been here (which is more reading than I've done in the past year alone) and had a chance to re-read one of my favourite books ever, The Chinese In America by Iris Chang.  A well-written account of the three massive immigrations of the Chinese people over to the US and the struggles of the Chinese people after immigrating.  I'm a sucker for history books and this one merged my love of history with trying to learn more about my roots.


I've learned a lot about my own roots by going through old family albums and having great one-on-one chats with my grandmother.  She's old, but still as sharp as any one my age.  She's such an incredible woman, having raised five children, she worked full-time (which was uncommon for women back in the day), she's well educated and she's a firecracker - always telling jokes and laughing but also pretty quick to scold you when you do something wrong.  She's an incredibly generous woman - always making sure if you have had enough to eat or if you needed anything, I can see where my father learned that trait.  I'm glad I've had the time to spend with her, as she's been a key part of me discovering and piecing together the history of my dad's side of the family.


I've had a chance to travel by myself to Kenting and see the sights and sounds of south Taiwan.  I survived and much to my surprise, my Mandarin isn't as bad as I thought, being fully able to communicate with the hotel staff, taxi drivers, and other tourists.  Having hiked for about four and a half hours on my second day in Kenting, I was awestruck by the beauty of the south coast, in particular the cliffs of Maobitou and the neon green seaweed at White Sands Beach.

Breathtaking White Sands Beach

I haven't been very homesick, but it's always great to hear from friends.  Many thanks to those who I've spoken to over Skype and to Franky, who mailed me a card - my first and only piece of mail here in Taipei!

Letters are fun!

There's so much left in Taiwan to explore and I hope to do that when I return for a couple of weeks in late May and then in mid-August.  If my last month and a half have been as great as this, I can't imagine what three months in the fall will be like - especially when I start up my Mandarin lessons.  Reading and writing Mandarin will be a fun challenge to conquer and to be a student again, that will also be a fun challenge to face.  


I leave on a plane tomorrow for a new adventure - Tibet.  I am sure I'll see even more things that will open my eyes and arouse all my senses.  I face another big challenge - being disconnected from the world.  No phone, no laptop, no internet, NO FACEBOOK.  Let's see how much fun my dad will have dealing with a Facebook junkie going through withdrawl.  I must google "internet cafe Lhasa" before I depart.


Alright...back to packing...

I can only procrastinate so much.

A fun day on the Maokong Gondola

Making your own schedule is a lot of fun.  Yesterday, I took advantage of my empty afternoon and decided to go for a ride on the Maokong Gondola in the southeastern part of Taipei City.  Comprised of only four stations, the gondola stretches for about 4km along the mountain ranges surrounding Taipei.  For about $3 - $4.50 CDN, you get a return trip (depending on where you stop on the gondola line).  

The view of Taipei City from
the Gondola

From Taipei Zoo station to Maokong Station takes about 12 minutes - sit back and enjoy the spectacular views and the heights you'll reach and dip throughout the ride.  There's only two stations that you would want to stop off and walk around - each walk around should take no more than an hour to see all the fun sites.

To really enjoy the ride, I suggest that one take a full trip up to Maokong first - there are also a special Gondola called Crystal Cabins that have a glass floor for you to have a great view of the jungle canopy below - you'll have to wait 15 to 20 minutes for those carts though, regular carts are every 30 seconds.  I didn't want to way, and besides, the regular gondolas provide great views anyway.

The tea plantations.

Maokong station has a great hiking trail that takes about 30 minutes to walk - provides great views of the countryside and the tea and rice plantations that climb up the mountain.  I have a phobia of mosquitos and there weren't that many up there, thankfully.  If you're a tea lover, there's plenty of tea houses and tea museums for you to visit.  If you're tired from all the walking, there are a series of great cafes along the hiking trails that have patios that overlook the sprawling metropolis below.

After your hike, take a rest at lookout point at the base of Maokong station - a breathtaking view of greenery is a great R&R stop before getting back onto the gondola.  Grab a drink and a bite to eat before hopping on the Gondola as there's no food consumption within the vehicles.

The Pagoda at Dachen

I suggest a stop by Zhinan Temple station, the first stop on the way down from the mountain.  Two Taoist temples flank the gondola station, one right when you get out of the exit and another about a 10 minute stroll down a hill.  Dachen Hall is marked by a gate and a pagoda at it's base.  But it is not as breathtaking as the Zhinan temple.  This temple sits at the edge of a mountain overlooking Taipei.  It is enormous, with large steps to climb and spacious temple rooms reserved for the statutes of Taoist faith.  

Make a small offering to the temple and stroll around the grounds taking in the smells of the incense, the notes hanging from the prayer trees.  Finally, take the time to stand by the white bannisters that hold you back from falling off the cliff to the city below and marvel at the juxtaposition of nature vs urban sprawl. 

Zhinan temple

Wandering around the grounds of the temple some more and you'll discover neat statutes, many more adorned prayer trees, large golden incense urns and beautiful exotic flowers and century old trees that wind its way around the architecture of the temple.

All in all, a great way to spend an afternoon - three to four hours of incredible sights of Taipei and its surroundings, and all for under $5.

Here are some other photos:

A view of Zhinan Temple from the Gondola with the Sunset.

A prayer tree

The Lanterns at Zhinan Temple

Sights and Sounds of Kenting - at the tip of south Taiwan

I spent most of today recuperating from my trip to Kenting, located on the southern tip of Taiwan.  Originally, I wanted to go to check out the Spring Scream festival, the Taiwanese equivalent of Lollapolloza, but tickets were pretty costly and with my limited amount of time (April 5 - 7) I decided to check out some of the other (cough) cheaper (cough) sights and sounds of Kenting.

The trip to Kenting from Taipei takes about 4 - 5 hours depending on your preferred mode of transportation.  I decided on the fastest - a high speed rail express ticket from Taipei to Zuoying (in the city of Kaoshing) and then the Kenting Express that was easily available right outside exit #2 at Zuoying high speed rail station.  Cost wise, you're looking at about $120 CDN for a comfortable ride to and from your destination.

 

I arrived in Hengchun, a sleepy town about a 10 min drive from Kenting, the hotel was new and was about $65 CDN / night, so it fit the bill and well, everything was already booked in Kenting by the time I got there.  I hopped into a cab and asked the driver to take me to some of the must see sights of the area.  Kenting county is made up of two small peninsulas, identified as east and west.  My driver took me to the east side, hitting some great sights that allows for views of both the Pacific Ocean and the Bashi Channel.  

Some must see points on the eastern peninsula:

Longpan Park - Cliffs overlooking
the gorgeous Pacific Ocean

Longpan Park - this park features stunning views of the Pacific from high above.  The cliffs of the park overlooks the waves hitting the rocks on the shores below for about 1/2 a kilometer.  I didn't walk that far, around the cliffs, just enough to see some incredible rock formations jutting out from the reddish soil with patchy pieces of green grass making the whole area look like some giant Chia Pet.  The winds were calm on these cliffs, not like the hurricane force winds I experienced at Maobitou (read on, I'll get to that later).

Beam me up Scotty.

Erlanbi Park and Lighthouse - this is the official most southern point of Taiwan.  In a short 500m stroll from the parking lot to lookout point, all you see is a horizon of blue while standing on the strange Star Trek like statue that marks the furthest south you can walk on the island.  Be sure to wear bug spray and plenty of it, as the path down to the lookout is swarming with hungry mosquitos and my legs found that out the hard way.  A short ways away is the white lighthouse that also overlooks the area.  Unfortunately, that was closed off when I went as the Spring Scream festival uses the park as a venue for their concert.

Sandland Beach

Sandland Beach - just as it sounds, this is all sand, all over the place with incredible light blue waters gently washing up and dropping off all of the debris from the Bashi Channel.  The sand is actually fine pieces of shells and give you a prickly foot massage as you walk towards the water.  One should be careful as the same jagged rocks you find all around this area are also present and a misstep could cause for some painful foot injuries.  

Youth Activities Park Square

Kenting Main Street and the Youth Activities Park - I saved this area closer towards the end of the evening as the night market starts around 6pm just in time for dinner.  Before filling my stomach, I felt that there was still some more walking left to do and visited the Youth Activities Park which sits at the end of Kenting main street strip.  The Park looks like a village out of some old Chinese kung fu movie.  The centre is arranged with various buildings which surround a main square.  The place was pretty empty, however, it doubles as a Youth Hostel during this busy season and I could hear some random music and chatter which echos through what appeared to be an abandoned town.  The main street was where everyone went for good and cheap eats.  My dad, before I left, warned me to avoid the street meat as he's somewhat of a germaphobe.  But where else can you get Taiwanese sausages for $0.60 CDN and 3 squid skewers for $3 CDN?  While Spring Scream is going on, the strip is transformed into some crazy Mardi Gras type atmosphere where skimpy clothes are the norm and police don't bat an eye to the heavy drinking taking place on the street.  Friday and Saturdays are when the street is crammed with people, good luck trying to find anyone and you just have to walk with the flow.  After the night market, I retired to my room, slightly drunk and full of food - a good way to end a day.

The strip on Thursday night.  Thankfully, not as busy as the Friday
clusterfuck I experienced on Day 2.

Day 2 and I decided with the overcast day, the best thing to do was to go for a hike around the western peninsula.  My hotel concierge thought I was nuts when I told her I was going to walk to Maubitou (the southern most point of the Western peninsula) and White Sands Beach.  Frankly, I thought I was crazy after I walked the 15/16 kilometers to reach those two points.  

Maubitou Point

Maubitou Point - This park is named after a famous rock that sticks out of the water and looked like a cat's head (which is what the park is named after).  As expected, a breeze flows from the ocean - however, the breeze was almost hurricane force when I got there.  However, while it was brisk enough that it could blow someone off their footing, the wind was not cold as I've experienced with other ocean side visits before.  I was able to comfortably walk around in tshirt and shorts, however, the wind did a number on my hair.  The park looked more like a snapshot out of an Ireland tourist book and it was so interesting to see the difference between the cliffs of the different peninsulas.  The reddish sands of Longpan park were not present here - the soil here were beige, making the rock formations look more like a smaller version of Stonehenge.  There was also an interesting bamboo tree that jutted out of the rocks near Maubitou rock.

White Sands Beach - My feet were all bruised and blistered thanks to my poor decision to wear flip flops as 

The neon green seaweed at
White Sands Beach

opposed to sensible walking shoes.  At least the therapeutic waters of White Sands beach helped soothe my poor soles, the perfect reward for a day's worth of walking around the southern countryside.  The beach is flanked by two groups of rocks that are covered with green algae and seaweed.  Unlike the name suggests, White Sands beach doesn't really have white sand, which didn't matter as the view of the beach is just as serene regardless of the actual sand colour.  Again, the warm ocean breeze makes for a great companion (thankfully not as forceful as the winds at Maubitou) and you can wade in the waters for hours without feeling cold. 

I wrapped up my day with another walk around the Kenting main street strip, mostly for the food.  It was crazy busy with loud obnoxious drunken youngsters, so I called it an early night.

My final day in Kenting, I decided to wander around the old city of Hengchun.  If the US south had a town with all Chinese people, Hengchun would be the perfect match.  The people speak Mandarin with a slight drawl, everyone moves at a slow pace and the small hamlet has a neat little history as a staging point for the Japanese military when it had possession of Taiwan pre-1945.  There are two main things to check out in Hengchun - the old Hengchun main street and the old city walls.  Main street has old stores that haven't changed for decades.  At the end of the street, there's an incredible rock garden with a monument that sits on top of a steep pyramid.  You can quickly then walk to the south gate entrance which is the only gate that is fully restored out of the four main entrances of the old wall.  This walking tour is quick - about 2 hours and ends near the Hengchun bus terminal.  Reward yourself with a small pastry from the bakery that's nearby.

 

Hengchun South Gate

All in all, I had a great time.  It was great to travel on my own and test my Mandarin abilities without having to rely on my family to help me translate.  This was just a taste of the adventure in store for me as I travel the world - and it was fantastic.

Today marks 1 month in Taipei.

30 days have past since I left Toronto.  It's crazy to think that I've been over on the other side of the world for all of March, it feels like it has passed by so quickly.  Life in Taipei has been a series of little challenges but great opportunities to learn about myself and my family.  


The great things about Taipei are as follows:


Eating is a sport.  Ever since landing in this wonderful city, food has been the number one topic of discussion with every one of my family members.  Every street is filled with pastry shops, restaurants, and food stalls.  There are regular meals and then snacks.  It's so bad that I'm pretty sure I've gained 10 pounds in the first weeks here.  I've developed a strategy.  Knowing that dinner is pretty much the time where I gain the weight, I have a decent breakfast, a light lunch, a small afternoon snack and then eat like a starved fat kid at dinner.


Transportation around the city is so easy and cheap.  Not only is the bus and subway network around this city expansive, it's super cheap.  15NTD (or $0.50 CDN) for the bus and 16 - 20NTD ($0.55 - 0.70) for the subway, it makes the TTC look even more like the joke that it is.  With about 8 subway lines in operation, all the main tourist attractions are reachable by the clean and reliable system.  Another two lines are planned to be open within the next year or so - including one to the airport.  There's something to be said about a city that embraces public transportation.  And if public transportation isn't your thing, cabs are even cheaper.  A 30 min cab ride in the city costs about $15CDN.  Blows my mind.


Spending time with family.  I've always been used to having a small family unit in Canada.  For a while, it was my mom, my brother and myself, then it was my grandmother, my brother and I.  Now it's just my brother and me.  Here, I'm exposed to a different part of my family - with two living grandparents, my dad and stepmom (and her family), 3 uncles, an aunt and a whole bunch of cousins and great uncles/aunts that I have dinner with every other night.  I've heard some great stories, learned a lot about my family's past and really felt the bond that holds this family together. 


The not so great things:


A limited social network.  Back home in Toronto, I had a great and stable social network.  It's hard to adjust to not having any friends in a new city and without having a workplace to meet new people.  I've tried starting random conversations with people at Starbucks, but have been met with weird looks or giggles.  I swear, I'm not trying to pick you up - just trying to have a conversation!  Hahaha.  To be fair, I can see why they are taken a bit off guard, I would be too.  Thankfully a few friends have tried to connect me with people in Taiwan, slowly but surely, I'll start building my network here.


Bad driving.  The stereotype that Asian people are bad drivers has always bugged me because I feel like I'm a pretty good driver.  But having experienced some near hits from scooters and sideswipes from other cars, I understand where this stereotypes come from.  Signalling, lanes and looking before you merge is rare here.  Driving here requires a strong constitution and being a passenger means gripping firmly on the handles near you.  Buckle up.


Navigating around with my limited Mandarin abilities.  So my Mandarin has never been all that great.  I'm able to speak conversational Mandarin and even that is spotty at best.  I can read as many characters as a 5 year old kid and writing is even worse.  Slowly but surely, I'm starting to build my language skills and once I'm done the majority of my travelling, I'll be returning to Taipei in September to study Mandarin full time for three months.  


I hope to post more about my time here in the next couple of days.  There's only 18 days left before I take off to Tibet and then do some travelling around southeast Asia.  That will be an experience of a lifetime.

Hello from the other side of the world!

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. It was Thursday evening that I got on a plane headed towards this small island in the Pacific, and when I touched down on Saturday morning (yes, I lost a complete day) I was well rested and ready to embrace this new chapter of my life.

The flight was very comfortable. After upgrading my ticket from economy to elite class, I found out that elite class was half empty for my flight and I got two seats to myself. Eva Air is a fantastic airline. The food was decent, the drinks were strong (mmm...gin and tonic), and the movies were plentiful. Having knocked out about 5 movies back, I came to the conclusion that multi-talented cast RomComs like New Year's Eve is a big waste of people's time and studio's money. I really liked My Life with Marilyn and thought that Michelle Williams did an incredible job with portraying the bombshell.

I landed early in Taipei on May 3rd (5am touchdown) and was out of the airport by 6am. I thought that the Taiwanese custom officials would stop me for carrying in 4 check-in bags along with two carry ons, but waved me through - I'm sure they've seen worse with people returning to the motherland. My Dad and Stepmom were there at the airport - both asked if I've had enough to eat.

Heading into the city, the air I was breathing in was what I remembered it when I was here back in June. A slight haze (likely smog) covered the city like a blanket, making it hard to make out the skyline. Construction was abundant - with a new subway line going to connect the city airport with Taoyuan International (Taipei's Pearson), the highway was busy with workers - working towards a deadline of Dec 2013 for completion. Incredible, this city started it's subway system back in the 90s and already it's surpassed Toronto in the number of lines and the number of people it carries. With two new lines opening downtown this year (including one right outside my grandmother's house), this is one transit friendly city.

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday with my family. My Dad still thinks I'm seven years old and insist on teaching me how to do mundane tasks like hang up my clothes or to eat noodles. It's quite funny actually except for the fact that he's incredibly stubborn and honestly cannot stand being wrong on anything (sorry Dad, Bluetooth and WIFI are two different things). What has been great is that I've gotten a chance to hang out with my grandmother for a couple of hours on both Saturday and Sunday. She's not quite sure of why I'm taking a year off, but identifies with the need to travel. She herself has travelled all over the world with various Taiwanese tour groups. In her younger days, she actually served as a tour guide in Taiwan for visitors and locals, which is why she's always had a passion for travel herself. We chatted for hours about my plans for this year and she laughed about all of the locations that I planned on going to as she's been herself - sometimes twice. Her most incredible stories and adventures were about South Africa - she loved the wildlife and the people - saying that she met some of the nicest locals she's ever met on her travels. She giggled over her photos posing with African children and told me that it was quite the sight, an old Chinese lady with a bunch of African children.

So it's Monday and it's safe to say I've started settling into my life here on the other side of the world. In five days, it'll be my one month anniversary of my last day of work, and to be very honest, I don't miss it one fucking bit. Not having to deal with the anxiety of deadlines, multiple emails requiring your attention and other office place crap has made me a happier and healthier person. I've been on walks around the city, and my first run along the riverside park was incredible today.

Over the next couple of days, as I start brainstorming and refining ideas from my book of writing material, I'll keep you posted on some of the fun things I'll be doing around the city. I plan on getting connected with a local expat group and hopefully organizing a St. Patrick's Day outing to get to meet some cool people in the city (sorry Dad, hanging out with you is not the same as hanging out with people my age.)

If any of you want to visit this awesome city, you let me know - there's a spare bedroom here at my dad's place!

Leaving on a Jetplane...finally. Goodbye Toronto. Hello Taipei!

So after the fiasco that was Tuesday's mistaken travel itinerary, I'm finally sitting in the airport waiting to board my direct flight to Taipei. What a journey it's been just to get to this gate. All you can do is to laugh at the mishaps that happened along the way.

I am really going to miss Toronto and the friends I'm leaving behind. Since 1989, I've carved out a life here in this amazing city and built some great friendships along the way. From elementary, junior high, high school, university to my working life, I am so grateful to have met such talented and amazing people along the way. With too many to name, please note that all of you have helped me be the person I am today and that all of you have impacted my life in a positive way.

The past eight weeks have been incredibly difficult. As time quickly started ticking away until I had to leave, every minute of every interaction with my friends felt much more important. Having gained about 10 lbs in the last two months (I'm going to say it's likely from the excess drinking and the lack of going to the gym because of said drinking), I'd like to think of it as 10lbs of love from friends I'm taking away (cheesy, I know).

I say goodbye to a great city - Toronto is a beautiful place and really the safest place I've ever been so far. It's the only place where I have felt stumbling home drunk at 3am by myself was just as safe as if I was to walk to work at 8am in the morning. Toronto is also a great place to learn about other cultures. I am so happy that I grew up around people from around the world and got to know their heritage (so I don't appear to be stupid or ignorant when I meet new people).

So this is it. 30 min left in TO - at least for the next year. I've said this to many people in my last weeks - 2012 is a year for change. If there's something about your life you are just not happy with, stop complaining and do something about it. I hope all the best for you, my friends!

A Reminder of Why I Made the Right Decision

Just under a week ago, those of Chinese decent ushered in the 4710th year of the Lunar calendar and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. Chinese New Year, the most important day of any Chinese household, was celebrated with everything decorated in red, pocket envelope money and hours and hours of eating meals with family. In fact, it is so important to Chinese people, it causes the largest human migration on Earth every year - when migrant city workers in China travel back from major cities to their home villages for their once a year visit with their families.

Like all new year's celebrated by cultures around the world, it is a time for throwing out past grievances and looking towards the future. It couldn't have come at a better time for me as I start this new leg of my journey in life. On CNY day, my family called at 10pm on Jan 22 (it was already CNY half way around the world) to wish me a happy new year. It was one of the first times, that I got choked up talking to my family. (Note: that's them all at my Uncle's house in Taichung right before they called me. They like printing out signs on the computer - they tell me that's how much they know about technology. I giggled.)

A few people know my family background - ironically, I'm not one to share a lot about my personal life (I can hear you scoffing: "um, that's not what my Facebook newsfeed says."). My family, my relationships and even my friends from different social groups have been kept separate and out of the public limelight. It's not that I don't love any of those parts of my life, I just have a tough time expressing my love for those people. My hope is that with this new year, my new adventures, and this new blog, I can start sharing some of that with you.

My family has always been divided. The one thing Asian families don't do well is talk about problems openly with one another, rather, they all like to gossip to others, which causes more drama. Confrontations are explosive, excommunication is common - your run of the mill soap opera (with chopsticks). My mom and dad's relationship in the beginning (from what I've been able to piece together from various family members and momentos) had been a happy one. What I've determined is that when I came along, and the strong duty that they felt to provide me with a better life than the one they had, eventually led to them drifting apart and carved out my families journey to the present.

My parents and I landed in Canada on Feb 28th, 1989 (fatefully, I am leaving the same day for Taiwan 23 years later - SIGN FROM ABOVE!). We moved in with my mom's parents until we found a home in Scarborough, at the corner of McCowan and Finch. Life was good, until I was in grade 3. My dad hadn't adjusted to Canada as the language barrier was causing him to have trouble finding work in his field, and he missed his family in Taiwan. My mom, who had all of her support system here, couldn't bear the thought of returning. These factors, added with the stress of my brother just being born, caused a fracture - one that they were never able to repair. They divorced, Dad left Canada for Taiwan two years later, and my mom became a single mother, determined to raise my brother and I by herself and do whatever she can to give us the tools to succeed.

I've written about my mom before. She was, and still is, my hero. Not a day goes by where I don't think about what she sacrificed to give my brother and me a better life and everytime I think about it, I can't help but miss her and cry. We lost her 12 years ago to cancer and to see her fight the disease because she was so determined to see my brother and I reach 18 was truly inspirational and sadly, heartbreaking knowing she wasn't able to do so.

It was my close connection with my mom and her family that caused a rift with my dad. As I've grown and matured, I've begun to understand how much that rift has caused my dad to be upset that he doesn't have a better relationship with my brother and myself. For a while, my dad and I didn't speak, and he actually didn't find out about my mom's death until two years after she had passed. To this day, he is heartbroken, both at the fact that he found out so late and that he wasn't able to say goodbye to the woman he still loves.

Divorce is always a tough situation and it is one of the worst things to happen for children of a young age. I certainly didn't have the full understanding of why it happened (and still don't to this day) and with parents who act like children through a divorce as they battle it out, it's the children who come out as the losers. I don't blame my mom for what what her and her side of the family did during the divorce - they were protecting their own. But sadly, what they took away from me and my brother with their actions was getting to know and be closer with my dad and his family.

Some of my earliest memories have been happier moments with my grandmother (my Ahma - or my dad's mom) who has made me her favourite since the day that I was born. Whenever I go back to Taiwan, she and I always go for lunch and she tells me stories about what I used to do as a child - always the attention seeker, but always well behaved. Her stories help conjure up hidden memories of when I was 3 or 4 years old and how she took me to her mahjong games and to temple. But I've always wondered how many other memories I could have had if everything worked out between my parents.

When I heard my family's voice over the phone last Sunday, I couldn't help to think about what's left for me here in Toronto. Everyone on my mom's side of the family is gone - my uncle, grandfather, mom and grandmother have all passed. I only have my brother, who's doing great at U of Guelph, and my aunt is in Los Angeles. It wasn't until speaking to my aunt about my plans to travel that I started getting a quiver in my voice when speaking about how sad I am that there's really no one left here except for my brother and I. It was a hard truth to face, that all this time, one of the reasons why I was unhappy was that I felt so alone and apart from my kin.

Their photos and love from across the Pacific reinforces my decision to take off and spend more time with them. I've only been back to Taiwan four times since my family immigrated here. Each time was only for a week or two, barely enough to connect and understand that there are so many other people who love me, half a world away. I am so grateful for this chance to be able to go back, this time for a long period of time. I will laugh, eat and drink with them and try to catch up on all of those memories I haven't been able to capture until this point in my life. I cannot wait to see my Ahma again, who at close to 80 years of age and with 3 surgeries under her belt this year, is as spry as I am. I cannot wait for the chance to go to Tibet with my dad and one of my uncles, and have them point out random, crazy facts they know because it makes them feel happy doing so.

Wow...that was a lot to share - I think there are things in this posts my closest and best friends don't even know. I hope to share more of my fun times with you about my family in my adventures this year. Like everything since 2012 started, this blog has been difficult to write - tears were shed, it's been edited several times and time was spent flipping through old photo albums. I hope all of you take the time to appreciate those family members around you, who have added so much to your life experience to this point and take the time in this year of the Dragon to connect with those you haven't had the chance to. Take this opportunity before the chance to do so slips away.