For my first day in Taiwan I have made some really interesting observations about the different kind of lifestyle they have here.
Their culture focuses a lot less of cleanliness. No one seems to wash their hands all the time or stress about touching other peoples food. Maybe this is due to the fact that there are just a lot of people around you always, but no one really cares if something is dirty or you touch someone else's food.
Not many Taiwanese students speak a lot of English. Although they take English classes in school, they focus more on the reading and writing of the language rather than the speaking of it. Its pretty much a game of guessing and looking for words that they understand to communicate. I also really enjoy listening to them talk in Chinese. The language sounds so choppy and their tone fluctuates so much.
The humidity here is borderline unbearable. Imagine going to Florida but multiply that humidity by 10 and you have reached the humidity of Taiwan. It will definitely take some getting used to. Everyone here really doesn't wear make up or any heavy clothing because it would just be sweated off anyway. It is refreshing to have everyone be so natural.
The mosquitos here are very irritating. They pretty much bite at all hours of the day.
All of the plants here seem like they should be in a rainforest. It is all indescribably green and very different from the common trees you would find in the United States.
DANCE:
For dance the first class was ballet. The teacher is currently living and dancing in Germany so he taught his class in English. The teacher lead a very challenging and fast paced class. I was still feeling the jet lag and lack of sleep that had crept into my body overnight so I was not expecting to be on my top game today. My brain could pick up each combination but my body lagged behind quite a bit. I was off centered and tired and I felt so much heavier. It didn't help that every single Taiwanese girl had perfect extensions up by their heads, perfect turn, 90 degree arabesques and higher, and legs that go on for days despite the fact that they are as tall as I am or shorter. Top that off with the fact that they are all twigs and I was feeling pretty low after that ballet class. I am usually pretty good at keeping my self esteem up in dance situations but it was a bit of a struggle in this class to be honest.
Modern was with Chien-Ying, my professor back in the States, so it was a breathe of fresh air. This was my comfort zone and despite the fact that it was hot and sticky and I was sweating more than I have in my entire life, I was having an amazing time. The challenge with her class was the fact that she decided to teach class in Chinese, so she could direct her focus at the Taiwanese students. It was interesting to realize you could pick up what she was telling us because it was movement based. She only had to show the combination for me to understand what she needed from us.
Our third class for the day was Chinese. This is a class that is suppose to be very opposite from ballet. The hands are different, the stance is different, and it was completely new and out of my element. The warm up was pretty much Chinese torture using stretching. No wonder these Chinese dancers are so flexible. They stretch like this their whole life, while I have not. I was feeling like my hips were going to pop out of my sockets after the amount of splits, straddles, and pikes we were required to do. I may feel pretty flexible now but I am sure I will not be able to walk in the morning.
We also began learning a "Male Chinese Cloud Dance" It is pretty fast but it was so fun to learn with everyone. The precision of their hands, angles of their body, and even arm position is just baffling to me. They must work so hard to achieve mastery of this style of dance and they not only do this but modern and ballet as well.
So in general for this trip I have decided to adopt a don't ask what's in it just eat it mentality. I am being very open to all the different things this country can offer me, especially the culinary options!
After getting ready for the day we met the dance students from the National Taiwan University of the Arts for some breakfast. We went to go sit down to eat the breakfast they brought for us and I stepped into the room without taking my shoes off! Apparently that is not something you do. They were very polite and told me to take them off. They brought us a sandwich and some milk tea. The sandwich was a bunch of layers of bread with cucumber, ham, hamburger, and egg in between. They had a hard time explaining the ingredients in English. Although it sounds pretty unappetizing, it was surprisingly good.
The lunch was also brought to us by the Taiwan students. They brought us a plethora of dumplings with different fillings. There was one dumpling that I absolutely loved but had no idea what was inside of it. Whenever I asked the students just gave me a confused smile. I know that it was pink and very delicious and my best guess would be that it was pork. They also have this sauce that truly puts soy sauce to shame. Its kind of like soy sauce but it has garlic and a bunch of other spices that just make it magical on everything. I also got a round of applause for eating my dumplings with chopsticks.
For dinner the Taiwan students had a party for us. We met our big sisters at the party, which are Taiwan students chosen to help us get around Taiwan. Mine are Esan and Tiffany (those are their American names.) It is really funny to talk to them because I would say something in English and then they would speak to each other in Chinese to decipher what I had said so that they could answer.
At the party we played a bunch of different games, my favorite being Hidiya. This game is too complicated to explain but it involves playing rock paper scissors, which in Taiwan they call paper scissor stone. After we had a competition that involved picking up M&Ms with chopsticks. My team won the game and as a prize, I received a package of beef noodles. We also learned some Chinese calligraphy. I was given GOOD LUCK to write and my Taiwan sisters helped me with the strokes. It is definitely not professional looking, but I was pretty proud of myself.
I really enjoyed the party they threw us because i was able to try some native Taiwan food and get to know some of the students that live here. I also really loved getting the chance to try out their Chinese calligraphy. I have always admired the beautiful brushstrokes of Chinese calligraphy and now I know first hand how truly difficulty they are to recreate.
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