After the rat incident, I went with a few of the Fulbrighters to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, which was right by our hotel. The gorgeous pictures are in the Photos section of this site. It was really cool to see the Taiwanese soldiers perform something similar to the changing of the guard at DC's Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Though not quite as reverant and deliberate, it was interesting to ponder universal military culture and performance.
We then visited Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taiwan and the second tallest building in the world. I didn't go up to the top that day, but Friday I left the Fulbright Conference early and went back with two friends. My close, wonderful friends from my London days, Elly (a Taiwan native who lives in Taichung) and Mariko (who flew in from Japan for the weekend), met up with me in Taipei. They even stayed at the Wing Hotel! I was very sad to spend so little time with them, but I was occupied with the requisite conference activities. Luckily I did leave and spend the afternoon and evening of Friday with them. Taipei 101 was phenomenal. As you can see from the photos, all of Taipei is visible from the 91st floor! The elevator only took 37 seconds to go from floor 5 to floor 89. Incredible.
That evening, the three of us went to one of the night markets, though not the largest. There we wandered about in the rain and tried some local foods. We had Lu Wei, which is a large dish of meat and vegetables cooked in a spicy soup. What makes it special is that you fill a basket with fresh vegetables, tofu and meat of your choice and they cook it right there. Very fresh and quite spicy! We also had tea and a dessert that consisted of a giant, crispy crepe with bananas and chocolate.
The best part of our visit was reminiscing about our times together in London. It was as if we had seen each other just yesterday. Mariko of course brought me gifts of delicious Japanese chocolate and some Green Tea-flavored KitKats, which were actually quite good. We had breakfast together Saturday morning as well, but then the two went on to Taichung, while I remained in Taipei for the rest of the conference.
The conference took place at the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, which is the institution that coordinates the Fulbright Program between local Taiwanese Education Bureaus and the US Department of State. They served us many snacks, but kept us all day for various presentations. The American Institute in Taiwan, our pseudo-embassy, sent staff to brief us on their role here and to give us safety and living tips. We also met the other Fulbright English Teachers from Yilan, in the northeast of Taiwan, and the research Fulbrights who will do their respective studies around the country.
Several of the research projects were fascinating: translation of Taoist texts, the relationship between marriage and crime, prisoners recidivism rates, ancient dream journals and methods of interpretation, and avian influenza. We also presented about our various schools and cities, mentioning what we hope to do in our free time. I shared that my biggest goal, outside of school, is to start a monthly or biweekly women's group. The group might consist of my coteachers, neighbors, mothers of my students, and friends. I hope that we can discuss our lives and experiences as women in our two countries, read a book or articles about the lives of women around the world, and talk about cultural perceptions of various women's issues and rights. Beyond discussion, I would like us to engage our community and do something positive. The most obvious might be volunteering with typhoon relief in Kaohsiung County, but we will see if I can even get several women interested in meeting over the next few weeks.
Since this is such a long post, I will resume my update about my first day of teaching, which was today, at a later date. Small doses are best I think.
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