Change your first impressions

So this post is more about first impressions of things you see around you than for meeting people, although traveling to other countries always gives you a chance to change your first impressions of people.

But this particular road sign caught my attention from the very beginning. Perhaps it was sometime last year, when the bus to church took on a new route due to the International Flower Expo, and you would find yourself suddenly hurtling at top bus speeds (not that fast) into a lane usually reserved for oncoming traffic.

A couple weeks ago I saw a blue road sign that loudly proclaimed the lane below it as a "Reversible Lane" and I had to stop and think about it. Did that mean the lane itself could turn inside out like a jacket? No, it couldn't be. Then did the lane turn around? Of course not. The only explanation I could come up with was that the lane could be used for traffic coming in either direction, thankfully though, despite the many many confusingly parallel roads here in Taipei, it is usually very well understood who can use the reversible lanes, and when, and so far I haven't heard of any collisions in such a lane. But I still keep thinking of reversible jackets when I see the sign.

Another unique thing about Taipei is that I would say it is one of the few, if not the only place you will find on your cafe menu something like "Camellia Sinensis Tea," or, green tea. Actually usually green tea goes by its color, and red tea does as well, but some lesser-known teas are given even lesser-known names when they are placed on the menu.


Speaking of menu, a couple weeks ago I took an adventurous turn and decided to try to order something I couldn't read, which meant of course that I had no idea what I was ordering, except that I knew it was either noodles or rice or soup. Thankfully I could ask if something was vegetarian and thankfully they understood me this time. There have been times that wasn't the case, but I prefer to forget those times :)


Well I still have some homework to do. Until next time,


:)

Dr. Dolittle

So I am a bit behind in my movie reviewing, but the other day as I was walking home from school, deep in thought as I usually am, little bits of sounds from conversations around me filtered through my subconscious until I suddenly "woke up" and realised with a start that I knew what those conversations were about! For the first time in my time in Taiwan, I was understanding pieces of what people were saying as they walked past me or talked on the bus. It felt like someone had opened a door and suddenly transported me into another world where suddenly what was previously just different, yet familiar sounds, suddenly turned into meaningful conversation. I imagined it to be a little like how Dr. Doolittle must've felt, hence this blog's title. This isn't to say I compare conversations here to the ones of the animals in the film. My analogy is purely single-faceted, connected only to the 'ear opening' aspect of the film.

I must say, it is exciting to learn Chinese, or any second language for that matter. To be able to converse and think in a different way is fun! It can be challenging though. We struggled greatly when we were introduced to the idea that "who" could also be used for "anyone" and "where" could be used for "anywhere." So now our sentences became more confusing for we still thought of those words as "who" and "where" - so when we said "everyone likes to drink tea" it sounded to us like "who wants to drink tea" except there was no question mark. And when we wanted to say "I can go anywhere" it sounded like we were saying "I can go where." It was highly confusing, but once you switch your thinking around, and hear the new use of an old word often enough, it becomes a little easier to grasp.

If you ever do come to Taiwan, don't worry about not knowing what to talk about when you arrive. Even though it's considered a boring topic to discuss, you can still fall back on the weather as a topic for conversation. And you will never run out of things to say for the weather is always changing. One day it may be summery and hot and humid, and the next day it may be blustery and cold and rainy. It all depends, on something, (I never studied earth science so I have no answer for what that 'something' is at the moment).

The last two days were getting a bit cold and I thought I needed to look for my winter jacket, but today, even though it was rainy and dreary, the humidity crept back somehow and was in full force today and still is this evening. If you don't have ramrod straight hair, you're in trouble. I know from personal experience. I always compare my hair to velcro when it comes to living in humid climates; it's awful.

Oh, on my way up the Yang Ming Shan mountain today, I saw a large black beetle, along with a jumpy lizard who kept trying to climb a vine to get away yet couldn't quite manage it. The beetle didn't seem to take any notice of me. Then later I saw a reddish beetle of sorts, and felt glad that I live in the city and not in the country. I have seen the larger-than-your-hand spiders and feel this is indeed a tropical jungle. Anyway, if you'd like to see a picture of what the beetle looked like, you can find a picture on this website:

http://www.beetleshop.net/forum/english/english%20forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1770

And on that note, I think I shall end :) Thanks for checking in and I wish you a wonderful week. Oh, and I had internet issues, and moved house and a few other things, so that's prevented me from writing. But things seem to have calmed down a bit and I now have more reliable internet access, so all is right with this side of the world right now :) until next time!