Happy New Year! --新年快樂!!

After my exploration of the city I decided to take a "quick nap" before New Years. I ended up sleeping a full 7 hour cycle and waking up at 11:00 pm, thoroughly ruining my chances of creating a non jet-lagged sleep cycle. I woke up and quickly made my way to the roof of the apartment because I was told that I was too late to make it to Taipei 101 for the celebrations. When I got to the roof I looked down at the streets and saw thousands of Taipei residents packing the streets moving together towards Taipei 101, a looming beacon of lights standing above the other buildings. I decided that I wouldn't miss out on the celebrations from not trying and made my way down to the ground floor, and into the crowd.

The entire city shut down as residents funneled from all different locations to centralize under the tower and usher in the New Year. After about 20 minutes of walking I made it to the base of Taipei 101 where I saw a big stage surrounding by floating advertisements from big companies, a multi-story image of a phone with a countdown to the New Year, and many many excited faces lighting up for a new start. I had the chance to see a couple performances before the countdown started including a Drum Ceremony and some speeches from people that looked important, but as it was all in Mandarin I kind of just nodded my head and pretended I agreed. I also saw what looked like the Asian version of Justin Bieber come up on the stage to the gasping of a surprised audience. I got a good laugh as he received more applause and cheering then the important looking (probably political) figure that came and gave a speech before the close of the ceremony.
Afterwards there was a massive countdown in Mandarin and a fantastic fireworks show started on the drop of the New Year. I managed to video tape the fireworks show but you will have to bear with be because for some reason I decided to turn the camera twice real quick and forgot that it doesn't stay straight. Oh well. Happy New Year Everyone!

Racing against Jet....lag.

                                                                  After getting some much needed sleep after arriving in Taipei I set out to eat and explore Lung-shan Temple (Longshan). A friend in the Ramadasa Ashram was kind enough to show me to a small vegetarian restaurant. I noticed from walking around in my immediate neighborhood that (at least in this area) the Taiwanese are much more health conscious than we are in America. I saw an abundance of health food stores, and it goes on to the point where many (about 50% of the people I saw) people wear surgical masks when walking around to not spread or be affected by germs. At the health food restaurant I got Shenkeng Tofu Hot Pot. The dish was Shenkeng Tofu with mushrooms I had never seen before, strange sprouts, egg noodles, cabbage etc. While eating it I couldn't help but think of all the things the strange mushrooms looked like and I decided your imagination can be a dangerous thing while trying new food. I was definitely thankful my friend had taught me how to say "I am a vegetarian" (Or Chet Tsu - Completely the wrong way to spell it, but the way I pronounce it).

 After finishing my Hot Pot I found the nearest MRT station and rode to the Longshan Temple stop. When I got off the metro I followed signs for Longshan Temple and was sent through an underground shopping complex. Near the temple they sold all kinds of precious stones and crafts. I explored the market and found a section that was partitioned off from the rest with beautiful artwork hung up around the borders. The prices ranged from 10,000-100,000 NTD ($300-$3,000 USD), but the pieces were very well done originals. I tried to find information about the artist but was unable to pin down the source of these paintings.

 

After leaving the market I came to Longshan temple. The temple was a huge complex with  broad gated entryway. Within the temple was beautiful waterfalls and coy ponds with fountains. I found the crowd at the temple to be very interesting. Most of the people looked the same as the first 50 people you would see on the street. There wasn't an over prevalence of religious garb, or healthy and holistic looking individuals. They were just......people. The atmosphere was quite beautiful. As soon as I entered the temple I smelled incense quite heavily and soon realized why. Part of the ritual at the temple was each individual bought  a couple sticks of incense and lit them on an assigned trough.

After lighting the incense patrons walked through the temple to different braziers lit with bigger flames. At these braziers they circle and held the incense over their heads. There were many of these stations with one central altar with Buddha on it in the temple. The crowd I saw there ranged from families, to the elderly, to a girl's sports team coming for good fortune, to a couple trendy-teens. The temple's pathway was a full circuit around the perimeter of the temple that people walked with their incense as it burned out. Upon reaching the end there was a more centralized area to pray. After sending my own prayer I headed back to the Ashram to nap in preparation for New Year's Eve at Taipei 101.

Trains, Planes, and Buses....Oh my!!

 I arrived in Tokyo, Japan after about 22 hours of travel. I spent the duration of my layover exploring the interesting experiences the airport had to offer. I stopped in the main airport sushi bar and met Jeff, an American who had spent the last four years in a small province in mainland China studying traditional Kung Fu and Daoist principles. Jeff explained to me that his master believed that the road to their training was to become Daoist doctors, not to necessarily help others (although that is an excellent reason in of itself), but to be health conscious about what they put into their bodies. He talked to me about what kinds of foods he eats at what time of the year to promote health and wellness. I was curious as to his plan to stay strong in his practice when he moved back to the states because through personal experience I know that it is one thing to be motivated in the location that you are receiving this great and unique experience, but it is another to be able to bring it back and keep a strong practice while reintegrating into U.S. culture.

Another store that I found in the Tokyo Airport was lined wall-to-wall with Origami paper, books, models of figures fighting and farming, as well as picture frames with Origami figures inside of the frame. Seeing this I immediately thought back to my early time in India where I had been very interested in the art of Origami, and I used it to stay connected to my life at home. Inside the store I also found sculptures, chopsticks, and fans with very intricate details. There was an artist in the store with her own kiosk of personal artwork including Kimonos and Japanese-specific figures. 

I also had the pleasure of meeting a troupe of Education majors from (some University in) Washington State, as well as their facilitator. They were also flying to Taipei as a mandatory part of their education program. The program required them to have an intercultural teaching experience as part of their education degree (I know, what a PHENOMENAL idea) and one of the available programs was a partnership the facilitator's son had developed with a couple of the school systems in Taipei.

I spent awhile talking with the facilitator who was very interested in the research that I was doing and asked to meet up later on while I was in the country to have me talk about what I was learning to their group. I agreed with the stipulation that in two weeks I am in no way going to be any semblance of an expert, but hopefully will have been able to whet my appetite. I feel that a strong advantage that will aid me in my research is the graceful help being offered to me by Professor Ann Heylen, and Professor Wang of NTNU who are, and have been studying this topic for a much longer duration in Taipei. 

I landed in Taiwan at about 10:45 pm and while going through customs asked the lady working there her opinion of taking the bus or the taxi. She told me that the taxi was expensive, but a sure thing but if I felt comfortable taking the bus it was much less expensive. Although my eyes hurt and I was ready to get some sleep I decided to take the adventure of the bus. I showed the address of the place I needed to go to one of the bus kiosks within the airport and the lady kindly directed me to the correct station. While waiting for the bus I met a Taiwan native who had left the country 30 years ago to get a PhD in America, then decided to stay and work there. We talked for close to two hours while we waited for the bus, and on the way to our respective stops. We finally made it to my stop and walking down the main road until I found the address I was looking for was relatively easy! I finally made it to Ramadasa Ashram at about 1:30 am and was very happy to get a much needed shower and place to sleep.

Today I woke up and looked outside of my window to see the view a 12th floor apartment gets and was very interested in the architectural differences here. I am staying in an apartment, within an apartment where to get to my room I take a small lift within the apartment that makes a lot of noise and feels pretty rickety. My bathroom is an outdoor patio overlooking the city and while at first it was a new concept, I really like the idea. Today I plan to head to Longshan temple and practice using the MRT station. Later on a member of the community offered to show me some local vegetarian restaurants, and I plan to spend New Years at Taipei 101.