triumph & celebrity

life in taiwan has been so many things: enrapturing, bewildering, intoxicating, overpowering, educational... and lately, funny. language barriers and foreigner social status can give a special spice to life.

a month ago, karin and i decided to run the taroko gorge 1/2 marathon & 10k. taroko gorge is a spectacularly beautiful natural landmark made of marble and limestone, and the taroko gorge marathon is the only marathon in the world that takes place in a gorge. karin was brave enough to run her first 10k ever (in a gorge!), and she was also kind and generous enough to run around taipei taking care of pre-run registration business. all i had to do was call in with my date of birth, but when i called in, i abruptly remembered (mid-call) that i couldn't speak chinese and hung up, never to call again. thanks to this omission, i came in 3rd place... that's right: the 3rd fastest woman in taiwan, ages 50-59. i've never been so proud.

on 11.12.09, taiwan's leading pro-independence newspaper, the liberty times, ran an article with the headline "AMERICAN SWEETHEART BECOMES A CROSSING GUARD." that sweetheart was none other than me, 柯愛琳 (ke ai-lin). accompanied by a big glamorous photo of me decked out in crossing-guard yellow, the article described my efforts to promote the english language while directing traffic and being extremely friendly. i was pretty shocked and entertained by my taiwanese media debut, but the aftershocks were almost more amusing. for instance: popping up on yahoo taiwan's home page for an afternoon, and receiving a letter from a taiwanese prisoner looking for an english teacher.

lastly, a formosan macaque on a scooter (who may not even be as funny as his buddy relaxing down below). few things are funnier than monkeys on scooters.






photos: taroko gorge marathon male winners (kenyan men in 1st and 2nd place; japanese man in 3rd-- finishing 30 minutes after the kenyans); 3rd place female (and the back of karin's head); gaoshu elementary school teachers reading all about it; 10 seconds of yahoo.tw fame; monkey mountain; bonus taroko gorge images

julie in taiwan

my good friend julie murry-murbunya left taiwan on sunday. during her whirlwind tour of the ilha formosa, she came to know not only stinky tofu and oyster omelets, but also aboriginal dancing in sandimen, hakka pottery in meinong, and a UNESCO world heritage temple in taipei. she also made lots of new friends-- most notably, mr. chung, shushu, gugu, karin, the coffee guys, and kitty who bravely swallowed her tears when learning of julie's imminent departure. julie's legacy in taiwan includes brand-new anglophied names for winston, malik, mariah, and dolly.










one highlight of julie's taiwan-venture was our trip to sandimen's indigenous people's cultural park, aka disney aborigine. in addition to incongruous cartoon aborigines illustrating the island's paiwan, amis, rukai, truku, and atayal tribes (among others), the park is full of rich and fascinating information about taiwan's original inhabitants. taiwan has 13 official tribes who make up only 2% of the island's population, and are considered part of the austronesian cultural and linguistic family. they're thought to have inhabited taiwan for over 8,000 years. while visiting the park, we encountered paiwan women embroidering traditional flower, snake, and butterfly designs-- we loved the way one woman scooped up tiny beads with her needle, and we were grateful for our beautiful new pink & green paiwan flower patches. we also loved the multi-tribe song & dance performance.









after a healthy dose of gaoshu-based exploration, we headed north to taipei. in the afternoon, we visited ximending's historic red house (built in 1908 by the japanese), received fancy hairstyles (see julie's curl), and ate noodles with a crowd of taiwanese in the street (1 out of 3 thumbs up). in the night, we witnessed outrageously beautiful chinese treasures at the national palace museum (mr. chung's favorites are the paintings), completed a reverential and jubilant prayer tour of bao'an temple (UNESCO-approved and over 200 years old), and took our fabulous friend and tour guide, mr. chung, out for a taiwan beer at the 7-11.

on sunday, julie flew to abu dhabi and i walked to the city's north gate which stands within a whisper of a busy taipei freeway. taipei's 4 other gates and city walls were destroyed during the japanese occupation. although several have been rebuilt, the north gate is the oldest and last of the original 5. here, i wished julie off and thanked taipei for all of its marvels. zai jian, julie!

photos: sandimen greeting; paiwan friendship flower patches; bead scooping; gugu & julie; H1N1-free in sandimen; picture time!; karin julie & eileen eat noodles in the street; saturday night at the 7; the north gate