Interesting Places 有興趣的地方

(Even small places in the world are big...)

Hello everybody! I'm not dead!

I say that as a way to give you guys an update on the protesting here in Taiwan. (Smooth, right?) After the police cracked down on the lines, the protesting died down for a couple days, then resurfaced again- this time, 700,000 people arrived, from all over the country! I understand they also got overseas Taiwanese students in New York City to stage a protest as well. The government responded by making a deal with the protesters, agreeing to set up a committee overseeing all cross-Strait (between Taiwan and China) deals. Some students are still not happy with this, saying more must be done than simply setting up another layer of bureaucracy, but the majority of the protesters have gone home.

But in the meantime, the protest has been a very effective (if somewhat dangerous) topic to bring up in the ministry- I haven't met a single person who doesn't at least have an opinion about it, and some are willing to go on to hear about how the Kingdom, mentioned in the Bible, relates to it. (I had one long conversation with a cabby for about twenty minutes, which was nice!)

We went into this market and preached while eating delicious pineapple!

But besides that, I've had some nice conversations just from being friendly and open.

For example, one day last week I had to visit the doctor. Nothing serious, but still. In Taiwan, when you need to see the doctor you go directly to a hospital, so I did... but when I tried to register, the secretary told me to go to a different line. I went there, and the nurse told me to just go wait in the waiting room. After fifteen minutes, a different nurse came out and asked me why I was waiting there if I hadn't registered at the counter. I went back to the registration counter, where the secretary ignored my question and started saying to her friend that she can't understand what this foreigner wants.

It was at this point a random Chinese woman comes up from behind and basically takes over for me, arguing in the heartfelt but totally natural way that only middle-aged Chinese women can pull off. After she got me all registered (finally), she explained that she used to live in America, and seeing me having trouble with the Taiwanese staff in the hospital reminded her of herself trying to visit the doctor in America when she'd first arrived.

She was so nice (her name is Judy), she stayed with me until I got out and made sure everything was okay. We, naturally, started talking about why I came to Taiwan, which let me give a witness and ended up with her accepting an invitation to the memorial; we also made plans to meet up again on Monday at the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, and she'd show me around a bit.

In Chinese it's called "Father of the Nation Hall".

So that Monday we met at a nearby McDonald's (for those wondering- no, the food is not the same) and Judy did, indeed, show me around! She was obviously born in Taiwan, so she knew all about the history, but she'd spent ten years in America so her English was pretty good. Before I talk about the history, I should mention that this place is a major tourist spot for Mainland Chinese to come visit, since when Sun Yat-Sen was doing things Taiwan and China were still one nation; as a result, I got lots of stares. Most Mainland Chinese people not from a Tier 1 City (Beijing, Shanghai etc) don't see many non-Chinese people outside of television, so while they came to see Sun Yat-Sen, a real live American was also an attraction!

View of the courtyard (and 101!) from the steps

So Sun Yat-Sen (孫中山, better transliterated as Sun Zhongshan) was a doctor working in Hong Kong in the late 1800s, during the Qing Dynasty. He was trained in Western medicine, but his contemporaries and the government often would not allow him to practice his medicine on patients who needed it- Chinese medicine only. (Not that Chinese medicine is bad, last time I got a cold I ate lots of "powdered green dragon scales" and it seemed to help the symptoms... but I could see why someone with, say, a bullet wound would want surgery and not acupuncture) He later came to associate that with the Qing Dynasty in general- ignoring the future for the sake of the past, and allowing the country to fall behind as a result. During this time, the Imperial Japanese were also carving up parts of northern China and claiming them for Japan, so it's easy to see why he felt something needed to be done.

The man himself- this statue isn't smiling

That "something" turned out to be a revolution. Over the course of a decade, he got enough support from within and without China to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, and ended up being China's first, and so far only, democratically elected leader. He took steps to build schools, attract Western professionals, bring electricity and motor vehicles to China and in general made China a more modern place.

Different angle on him- actually, he looks quite stern

He died of a stroke in 1924- he succeeded in overthrowing a three thousand year old dynastic system and improving the lives of many, at the cost, some would argue, of some Chinese culture and on the backs of the peasants in the fields, for whom he did almost nothing. That last bit would become important for a peasant boy named Mao Zedong a few years after Sun's death...

While I was in the Memorial Hall, I got to see the changing of the guard

I understand the Changing of the Guard is very formal, is very respectful, etc, but it seems kind of... comical, honestly.

Taiwanese Superman or Ginyu Force?

Anyway, this excursion ended a bit awkwardly... Judy said she was going to step outside for some air, and to meet her at a bench she pointed out after I'd looked at the art gallery. I came out a half hour later, and she was nowhere in sight! I walked around for a bit looking for her, waited at the bench for fifteen minutes (had a nice chat with a man from Mainland China, too- he was blown away that I wan not only American, but could speak Chinese), but then with school to go to... left. I realize there's an even chance she just decided to leave too, but I really hope I didn't just ditch her there. Still, what are you gonna do? I hope she comes to the Memorial, not only because, you know, Memorial, but also so I can apologize.

The middle of the week was filled to the brim with school. My midterms are actually tomorrow, but it's not really a test, more like a project- I needed to interview another foreign student about his life here in Taiwan and the differences between Taiwan and his home country, then write a report on it, then make a powerpoint on that, then present it to the class in a ten-minute report. In addition to our usual tests and homework.

Still, this last Friday was a holiday, which was nice. (Tomb-Sweeping Day, if you're interested.) Most of the young Witnesses in my congregation went to tour Bethel, but way more people showed up than they were expecting- too many, in fact- and since I'd already seen Bethel I got bumped out of the group. I decided to spend my day instead touring the Botanical Gardens, and then wandering over to the hot springs in Beitou.

By all appearances, it was worth it!

This looks like a great place for a nap.

I love the roots on this tree!

Right before I took this picture, there was a family enjoying tea in that pagoda- it's a shame they left

Amidst all the natural beauty, which did me a lot of good (I spend too much time in the city), they also had this building kind of sticking out, not meshing with the surroundings. I went inside and a very nice Taiwanese tour guide explained to me that the site of the Botanical Gardens used to be the Qing Dynasty's provincial capital government building, and that although most of it was torn down by the Japanese this building had been preserved as a museum.

She also spent a great deal of time explaining to me the significance of the clothes the men painted on the doors were wearing- quite interesting for me, but probably boring for you guys :-)

This building, she was sure to point out, was just one small part of one building of the large complex. The main hall was still here, as was the"Etiquette Courtyard" and the galleries on either side. The living areas off to either side had been torn down, but apparently the Taiwanese government is trying to build a recreation of at least a couple of them so you can see how people lived.

One of the main galleries- I love the traditional Chinese windows, seriously

Back when this was actually used, the compound was all that was officially considered "Taipei"- they had this governmental office, with about two thousand people inside, about ten thousand merchants and craftsmen and farmers outside in the rest of the city, the city walls, and outside those nothing but countryside and natives until you reached either Tamsui, which was a Dutch trading port to the north, or Tainan, two hundred miles to the south.

This courtyard is full of etiquette, apparently? Can objects have etiquette?

After I left the Gardens, I took the subway up north to Beitou. Beitou is well-known locally for its hot springs and relaxed atmosphere, but I had yet to go there, so I figured this was a great opportunity.

Inside Beitou's MRT station- Taiwan is weird sometimes

And it was still really nice! I didn't really know where to go, so I just picked a street that looked like it had stuff on it and walked on up. Before long I started following signs that said "Hell Valley"- no idea what that was, but it sounded interesting at least! Along the way, there was a creek filled with hot springs water and people, so I stopped and soaked my feet with the locals for a while.

I also have a picture of my ugly pink feet in the water, but no one wants to see that :-)

After I'd relaxed for fifteen minutes or so, I kept going walking uphill, refueled now by some guy selling eggs he'd hardboiled in hot springs water. A few more turns, and I was rewarded by this lovely lake:

Hot springs! Seriously, don't dive in, they're really really hot!

These hot springs are hot because of a magma pool below the area. One of the mountains around Taipei, Yangmingshan, is in fact a volcano, although they say it's dormant and is no threat to anyone. Beitou has two major hot springs pools- this one, the only one I saw, has translucent water and is said to be good for your bones, while the other one, a milky white, is said to be good for your skin. I spent some time reading the sign (My Chinese is good for most things, but both medicine and geology are still beyond my reading comprehension- happily I have a dictionary in my phone), and as it turns out this water is not only full of sulfur and phosphorus, but is also quite acidic- it has a pH of 1.4. It is also high in radium, which gives it that lovely pale glow at night!

Okay, so these hot springs are totally radioactive. But lots of people use them, so surely they can't be that bad for you, right? I mean, only visit them once a month and you're probably fine... Also, maybe the actual hot springs resorts filter out the radium somehow? I really have no idea, but it's not like Taiwan has no doctors or scientists. Although it's a bit odd, if they allow people to use the hot springs it's probably safe.

One last experience- as I sat down, after having irradiated my legs in very relaxing hot spring water and now eating some food, another Taiwanese woman struck up a conversation with me and, when she learned I could speak decent Chinese, offered to show me around Beitou. We ended up talking, predictably, about religion- she's a Christian, she said, because she was once in a car accident and she prayed to not die, and when she didn't she felt that she owed God a favor in return. I showed her a few scriptures out of the Bible- she said although she's been attending church for six years, she's never read the Bible- and offered to get her in touch with one of our sisters who could teach her more about God if she wanted. I got her email address and phone number, so hopefully we can develop her interest!

She showed me a Buddhist temple near where she lives- we didn't go inside

So yeah, this last week has been nice. I think the informal method of the ministry is a lot more effective, for my situation right now at least. And now, writing this post has taken way too much time, so I need to get back to work on my midterms. :-) Take care!