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.