(a view of Taipei at dusk from Maokong in the surrounding mountains)
First and foremost, now that my schedule is getting more concrete and I've got regular classes I'm teaching (not just subbing for), I find that I have a free day in the middle of the week, so I'm introducing "Adventure Thursdays" to the blog. The basic concept is that every Thursday, I'm going to try to do one excursion to a must see site in Taipei or the surrounding area. I've already had two Adventure Thursdays, so I'll start from last week's.
If any of you know me well, you won't be surprised at my first choice: the teahouses of Maokong. Maokong is a mountain town overlooking Taipei City (the view is the first picture at the top of the blog). Two of the area's specialties are their "high mountain" oolong tea (高山烏龍) and their love of cooking tea right into any food. I took the bus up the mountain, through bamboo groves and past tea plantations, and got off about half way up at the Maokong stop. I guess I had been expecting an actual town, but it's more just a bunch of buldings (mainly teahouses and restaurants) scattered around the sides of the mountains. I started hiking down the road to a promising looking teahouse built with no walls, just a roof over two stories open to the air and red wooden pillars propping up the structure on the steep slope. It looked a little rustic, but it'd been a long trip and I was in the mood for some hardcore relaxation. The folks there promptly seated me at a table overlooking the valley and Taipei City and handed me a menu of tea and tea dishes. Each table came with it's own gas burner in the middle and a sturdy kettle filled with water. Basically, you order which tea you want and any accompanying food, they turn on the burner, and bring out a bunch of tea supplies (teapot, cups, utensils, a tray to catch any spilled water). I ordered the high mountain oolong and tea fried rice with potatoes. I took a picture of the setup and it's posted here at the side.
(from top to bottom: a temple on the walk to the teahouse; my meal and tea; the teahouse at night with glowing lanterns and a view of the city lights)
After the water boiled and I had a cup of hot tea in one hand and chopsticks in the other, I sat back and took in the mountain atmosphere. I'm not really a city boy, and any time in the
outdoors when you're surrounded by trees and a fresh cool breeze is a treat when those things are usually substituted for scooter exhaust and concrete. I spent a few hours up there just thinking and drinking tea, then took the bus back down the mountain. As I descended, I noticed a network of lantern lit trails crisscrossing the mountain and valley. Apparently the area is also famous for it's scenic hiking trails and relaxing pavilions, so I'll have to take a trip there again so experience that side of Maokong.
The week since has been filled with the daily grind of classes, including a particularly tiring one from 7:00-9:50 PM every Friday. Most of the class is in high school, and they've been up since probably 6:00 AM and at school all day, so I can understand why they don't want to be in an English review course late at night right before their weekend. For the most part, they're unmotivated and only talkative with each other in Chinese. Like I said, I can sympathize with them, especially since a lot of them are only there because their parents think it's a good idea, but Fridays are pretty much the same story for me with 13 hours of work and early classes to teach the next day, and my patience is wearing thin, especially when they don't bother to do their homework. It's kind of disappointing, but I'm hoping that I can work up the energy a little bit in the next few weeks seeing as I just got this class from another teacher.
On a more positive note though, my younger classes are going well, and I'm getting more settled into the routine of their course books and trying to balance them with games and activities of my own. A new development in my schedule is that I now have two adult classes three times a week. I've found them to be a ton of fun because a) the adults are there because they want to be, not because someone is making them, b) they're really curious about western culture, and c) I don't have to spend half of the class trying to get them to behave (a lot of my time with the kids' classes goes out the window trying to make them stay in their seats during a quiz, not hit each other, and use their inside voices when it's not break, haha).
(The entrance to the Taipei Botanical Gardens. I've always wanted to live somewhere with palm trees!)
Well, enough about work for now. Today was my second Adventure Thursday, and I chose to explore the Taipei Botanical Gardens and the neighboring museum of art history. Again, the gardens were a nice break from the city life. They're pretty big, and since Taiwan is on the border between the tropical and sub-tropical climate zones, they're filled with all sorts of cool trees, grasses, and flowers. My favorites were the avenue of towering palm trees at the gate, the bamboo garden, and the lotus pond (even though they're starting to die now that it's almost winter here). Best of all, it's only a 15 minute trip from my place so I can go there whenever I need to chill out for a while.
(from top to bottom: part of the botanical gardens; a kingfisher (maybe?) hunting for some lunch in the lotus pond; the art history museum overlooking the now fading lotus pond)
The art history museum borders the botanical gardens, and unfortunately three of the four floors were closed for renovations, but on the bright side, they said I could use my ticket again next time once the renovations are done for no extra charge. :) The third floor was the only part that was open, and it would've been the one I would've headed to right off the bat anyway.
They had a huge collection of Chinese artifacts, some dating back to 9,000 years ago. I got tosee ancient oracle bones, Tibetan paintings, classical calligraphy, jade carvings, huge bronze ceremonial castings, and ceramics and pottery in every shape, color, and form. It was a fascinating visit and they had English translations of all the Chinese notes and explanations so I was able to follow along very easily. (another beautiful bird fishing in front of the museum)
Now I'm back home listening to the rain on my balcony and admiring the sheets I finally found for my bed (never have I been so excited to have a sheet over my mattress, haha). If I'm in the mood, I might extend my adventures tonight and go see "Julie and Julia" at a movie theater around the corner. :) This was a big entry just because so much happened. I had to gloss over a lot of the details of my work, but I'm going to try to keep on top of my entries better from now on so I can actually fill you guys in on the little stories that happen. Hope to hear from everyone back home! Every e-mail and facebook message I get makes me really happy. Miss you all!
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