Monkey Mountain and Some Thoughts on Language

Monday, June 28

Over the past few days our family has learned two very important lessons about our studies in Mandarin Chinese. Number one, our teacher, Tom Lao Su (Teacher Tom), being an older gentleman, leans toward more traditional ways of doing things. This means he is naturally inclined to think of Taiwan strictly as a territory of China (which it technically is). He is therefore teaching us older, more formal, and traditional Chinese. This is different (I’m not sure how much so) from what is spoken and written now by the majority of the population in Taiwan.

Number two. It is my personal theory that Mandarin Chinese has way more bad language than English! For us it is doubly hard to not offend people because of the tones used in the language. There are five tones, one flat: , one short: , one ascending: /, one descending: \, and finally one descending and then ascending: . The really weird thing is that if you speak the right word with the wrong tone, they can’t understand you. Or you might be using a bad word, as we found out multiple times yesterday and the day before. It’s also possible to accidentally write down bad or unlucky words just by trying to copy simple characters. Yesterday we were conversing with some people in the coffee shop, and found out that, though we were speaking correctly in Chinese, we were actually saying bad things in Taiwanese! Unfortunately, we can’t win for losing so we have decided to not try and say much besides hello, yes, no, goodbye, thank you, etc.

This morning the weather cooperated with us and we were able to go to Monkey Mountain! The monkeys now populate the mountain because people would leave monkeys that they no longer wanted. That was the story that was told to me, anyway. Pastor Lindsey, Josh and Paula Hong, and John and Jessica accompanied us to see the “many, many monkeys” (sorry, I couldn’t resist just one inside joke!). I had wanted to go since we arrived, and I have to tell you, it lived up to my expectations! It was a good hour and fifteen minutes to the top and probably half that to get back down. At the top was a resting station where you could drink hot tea and water and look out over the ocean towards China, which was about 90 miles away. I have included a lot of pictures of the monkeys for your enjoyment. There were a lot of them right on the main path but we didn’t see any on the rugged path that some of us took to get the climbing experience. The monkeys were very calm as you walked past or took pictures of them. In the past they attacked some people for food, but nowadays they are more laid-back since people are no longer allowed to feed them or mess around with them. We saw a good deal of babies with their mothers, too.

On the way down the mountain my dad and I had a very interesting conversation with Josh. We were talking about different languages (Josh speaks Taiwanese, Mandarin, and English). I asked him a question that I had been thinking about for a long time: “What does English sound like to you, a non-native speaker? What does it sound like to the general population of Chinese people?” The answer, we discovered, is “very emotional”. In order to understand this better, I’m going to point to tones as the reason. In Mandarin, a tonal language, you don’t have much leeway for emotions. You must express your words a certain way. Any deviation in the pitch of your voice results in incoherent babbling. In English, a phonetic language, you have a little more room. We can express emotion through our words by pronouncing them different ways. In Mandarin, you can’t. When I offered this to Josh as one explanation, he agreed with it. He also said that “Americans are very good actors”. The emotional aspect might be a preconceived notion of Americans as a result of good acting. Those were the two things that we came up with, anyway.

I’ll end with a story: We were waiting in a rest station on Monkey Mountain to look at probably 8 or 10 monkeys nearby. There was a baby or two present and you could see some monkeys playing in a stream off in the distance. I heard a ruckus to my right and saw Nate wiggling. At first I thought a monkey had climbed into his pants. Thankfully it was not so. However, I soon spied the large, hairy spider on his pants. Its body wasn’t that big (in fact, it looked like a black and brown hairy daddy long-legs) but its legs probably spanned a good four or five inches in diameter. Anyway, Josh took a water bottle and hit it off. As soon as it hit the ground a monkey sprang up, smashed it, and ate it in one fluid movement. I think everyone was stunned for one second and then we all burst out laughing. To top it all off, my dad got it on video! Let me tell you, I was very careful the rest of the day to make sure I had no arachnids crawling around on my body!

Rain, Rain, and More Rain

Saturday, June 26

We awoke to some pretty heavy rain yesterday so we had to concede our plans to go play soccer and instead played some pool and Ping-Pong. It’s nice to have that option right downstairs. The rain also thwarted our plans to go hand out flyers for the end of July summer camp. I don’t know how that’s going to work out because Pastor Lindsey is leaving on Wednesday, and I believe that school is out for summer now. We’ll just have to wait and see.

In the evening we took Pastor Lindsey out to eat. We went again to that Japanese place in Dollars. He had never been before. It was quite excellent as usual! Then we did a little shopping. We try to get the big stuff (like water) out of the way when we have a vehicle around to carry it all back. We also picked up two cheap rubber soccer balls. I think one was $6 and one was $8. Though you can’t find any good soccer balls even at places like Nike and Adidas, you can find soccer cleats quite cheaply. I’m thinking about buying a pair of F-50s and Nate’s thinking about buying a pair of Predators. They’re about $60 and $70, respectively, which I believe is much cheaper than in the States.

We were planning to go to a movie in the evening, but were invited over to Josh Hong’s house for a party. Pastor Lindsey took us as it is quite far away. A girl from youth group, Dancy, also went with us. Josh and his wife, Paula, have a really nice place. We enjoyed some refreshments before playing a game, Empire, that was really neat! I’m looking forward to bringing it back to the U.S. for our youth group to play, though doubtless some people have already played it or a variant of it. We spent the last hour or two of our visit watching some funny videos on Elijah’s computer. I think everyone enjoyed them quite a bit.

This morning the rain again laid to rest our plans of soccer. It hasn’t rained in awhile though, so maybe it’ll work out for this afternoon. The evening is planned from 4 o’clock on, though (youth group practice and youth group). Looking forward to tonight!

The World Games Complex

Friday, June 25

We’ve been having a great time just hanging out. It’s feeling more and more like vacation as the days go by. It’s a lot of fun not having so much to do. We have plenty of time to hang out at the coffee shop, go swimming, play pool and Ping-Pong, etc. Yesterday it poured, which really kept the heat down. Of course, it made it really humid later in the evening. It didn’t matter as much though because when the sun went down it was actually very cool outside.

Later in the evening my dad and I took a walk in the direction we thought was north. Well, it turned out to be west (shows how good our sense of direction is). We found the MRT station about 5 or 6 blocks down. Right next to the station is the World Games stadium. Outside of the stadium is a big sports complex. There is a big running track with a full-size soccer field in the middle. There are tennis and basketball courts off to the side. There are also small soccer fields in the surrounding area, complete with one on a harder surface for indoor play. I also found futsol goals on the basketball courts. It’s a little bit of a walk, but there’s a MRT bus stop really close to our house that can take us right to the station for a very small amount of money. Hopefully we can use this really nice facility in the near future.

My dad and I each got a delicious fruit drink at the Family Mart in the station before heading back home. We stopped at a tech place to try and find a charger for my computer, but were unsuccessful. I have the directions to a Hewlett-Packard store, so we’ll probably have to go there eventually when I can get a ride. I hope it’s soon.

Rewind a Few Days

Wednesday, June 23

Well, I’ve been dreading catching up on our last three days all morning. There’s nothing like a blog to stack up on you. If I hadn’t written myself a few notes on the important things, I’d probably miss quite a few of them. I’m not behind because of procrastination, either. The fact is, my computer’s battery charger conked out and I haven’t been able to get it to work. I’m hoping to go to the Hewlett-Packard store today to get a new one, so we’ll see how that works out. Right now (in case you’re wondering) I’m working on my mom’s laptop. Before I catch you all up, though, I better let you know that we did indeed get out of the Lin’s house after a good while. Derrick, who came to assist us, called up the building repairman and he actually broke the lock off and put a new one on. It took awhile, and we had to scrap our dinner plans, but it was a nice feeling to be free! Okay, back to the last few days. Here goes:

Sunday:
After our Mandarin Chinese lesson we met with some people from the church to discuss the last camp of the summer, “Backstage with the Band”. Before the meeting commenced we each got our own “lunch box”. My dad informed us that this is typical at the meetings and conferences that he attends while in Taiwan. Each lunch box was fish, beef, or pork. Along with our meat we each had a small slice of Taiwanese sausage, a soy sauce-soaked egg, a big ball of tofu, some various veggies, and a bed of sticky rice. I have to say, it was pretty good. The eggs don’t look that appetizing from American eyes (especially when you see a bunch of them sitting in a 7-Eleven soaking up a black liquid) but they’re not bad. I ate all of mine (fish) even though it took awhile because I was using chopsticks.

When everyone was almost finished the meeting was started. Mr. and Mrs. Wu are in charge of coordinating the camp. Since we had only just arrived, Mrs. Wu put us into places that she thought would be best. She did this for some other people, too, and made sure to let us all know that if we wanted to change, that would be fine. Our whole family will be in charge of the worship time, both in the morning and the afternoon. In addition to that, we each have other responsibilities. I will be the leader for the 1st and 2nd grade class. In this role, I will teach them English in the morning. There will be a translator who will accompany each of the teachers. I guess I’m a little bit nervous about this because I’ve never taught English before, but I think it’ll be fine!

Sunday evening we were able to move into Benji’s old place. From what I gather, Benji is a Filipino who used to be associated with BCC as a short-term missionary. He moved to another city, so now the place was open for us. The apartment was sparse (just the way I like it) and pretty dirty. We spent most of the evening buying cleaning supplies, foodstuffs, and cleaning up. Now it’s looking really nice! We also brought in the refrigerator from the Wu’s apartment, which is in the same complex, just around the corner. The complex that we’re in has a lot of buildings with pathways and vegetation in the middle. There are Ping-Pong tables, a pool table, and a pool right downstairs. We can’t use the pool, though, because someone is suing the owners. Apparently they don’t have the proper permits to operate one. It’s a real shame because it’s so close and very nice. For now, though, we have been using the Lin’s pool. It is very nice as well, and is only a five-minute walk away. All of this is enclosed, with guards manning the gates. You have to use your key card to get everywhere. My dad got some video, and I will try to get it uploaded eventually.

Monday:
Besides more cleaning, more straightening up, more shopping, and more unpacking we had a mostly free day. At midmorning Pastor Lindsey and Winters took us to Morrison Academy. Winters actually used to teach there full time, and is now a substitute. He teaches gym and English. We also found out that he’s a black belt. Yes, Winters is one cool guy! Once there we used the precious internet access to get online and check e-mail, etc. We also went outside and played some soccer. The heat was oppressive, but on the bright side, the fields were dry! I really like that school  it’s a nice place to hang out. We always enjoy our time there.

When we got back from the school Isaac and I helped move a mattress from Pastor Lindsey’s house to ours. I guess the family that is going to be using his apartment when he moves (which is about a week away) won’t need it. Now we have three mattresses and Isaac and Nate won’t have to sleep on the couch anymore. To close off a very full and eventful day we watched Black Hawk Down. It’s a movie that most of us had wanted to see for a long time (especially Isaac).

Tuesday:
Although I woke up at 5 and 6:30, I ended up falling asleep until 9:30, much to my chagrin. I don’t like sleeping in, it wastes too much of my day. My bedroom window doesn’t face outside (in fact, none of the windows in our apartment do) and so we don’t get much light early in the morning. It’s unfortunate, but a blessing at the same time. It prevents the house from heating up. After quickly getting ready we headed off to the Lin’s pool. It’s been nice to go swimming and catch a ray almost every morning.

While my mom and dad took a nap Nate and I went downstairs and played Ping-Pong. They have a room down there, and, while it is very hot, is quite nice. They have two Ping-Pong tables and one billiards table. We ended up playing billiards for a little while as well. You have to make a $110 deposit, but get all but $10 of it back when you return the balls and ques. So it’s not very expensive and we’re hoping to play a lot this summer.

After naptime Mom, Isaac, Nathan, and I went to Dollars to do some more shopping. You never realize how much it takes to get a home of six people stocked with food and other supplies until you actually have to do it. Everything that we buy we have to carry home with us and it’s a good three or four city blocks. So that kind of limits what and how much we buy. The shopping itself is a really neat experience. You walk through the aisles and just see mounds and mounds of different, interesting-looking foods! I really wish cameras and video cameras were allowed inside because it is very fascinating. Oh, and I should mention that the big stores are always multiple floors.

There is a Nike and an Adidas store very close to us, so we stopped in to take a peek. We had been searching for a soccer ball ever since coming to Taiwan. Would you believe it, neither store had a good one! Even in the big stores, all you will find are little (Size 4) rubber balls. I guess this country is not much into soccer. Pastor Lin told us that what’s going on here is a shame. Parents are pushing their kids super hard in school so that they can go to a good university. After their regular school, which ends at four, they have a short meal and then most will go to a “cram school”. Here they will “cram” one subject (maybe math or English) for three or four hours. Did I mention that they only get two months of summer vacation instead of three? Unless they go to an English private school, which is on the same schedule as those in the U.S., the kids have very little time for sports. All this results in them being so burned out on school, that, when they finally do get to a good university, they slack off on their studies. It’s a sad situation, one that’s going to be hard to correct. A proper balance needs to be found.

Too close off another very full and eventful day we spent the evening at the church coffee shop. My computer was still broken, so I spent the time not doing much. Everyone else was busy on their computers, though. My mom was kind enough to let me have some time on hers after she was done, so I did get a few things done. We also skyped an old friend. Skype is so cool. Since it was on a laptop with WiFi, my dad took the computer outside the building and was able to show him what it looked like! If you have Skype, one of us Beasleys (we all have Skype) will normally be on between 7 A.M. and 10 A.M. Indiana time (7 and 10 P.M. here). The coffee shop isn’t open until two in the afternoon, so you’ll all be asleep by then. It’s also not open on Mondays and closes at ten. So keep that in mind if you’d like to contact us.

Meeting Some People and Many Thanks!

Sunday, June 20

Well, I’ll have to keep this short because I’m running out of battery…For some reason my computer charger has been not working in some areas. I’m not quite sure why yet. Hopefully I’ll get it figured out soon.

We went to church and youth group this morning. I really enjoy going! We happened to meet an elderly man named Tom before going in for worship. He struck up a chat with us, as many people do. I guess they want to practice their English on us. Well it came out that he teaches Mandarin for one hour after church! This time works out perfectly for us. After church we had doughnuts and tea upstairs (the church is below street level) before chatting with some more curious people. Then we had our lesson. Present were some other Taiwanese people and an African-American named Darius. The lesson was great and I improved my knowledge of the language two-fold! Throughout the day I’ve been spotting some of the characters he taught us (among others: the numbers one through ten, husband, woman, big, small, turtle, monster, heaven, and people.) We’re planning on continuing these lessons for the remainder of the time we are here. At this pace we will be able to learn a good deal, but probably won’t scratch the surface of the language. Mr. Tom put it well when he said that it takes years to learn any language, let alone one as hard as Chinese. He said he’s been learning English for twenty years and he’s still only so-so. That’s one reason I have so much respect for those who can translate. It’s no small wonder to hear them (without a pause, mind you!) translate a sermon. Especially more so when you realize that you can’t always directly translate words and ideas. It’s no easy task, and I doubt I could ever be fluent enough in any language to do it.

We meet interesting people every week at church. Take this week, for example. Isaac was introduced to a young man named Kai. Kai is in the airforce. I have no idea what led up to this, but Kai gave Isaac some dress blues. So he was pretty happy about that. Kai’s superior officer attends this church as well. He’s a mid-range lieutenant, if I remember correctly. He’s going to take us to see an airforce show the second week of July. Is that awesome or what?

At this point I’d like to thank my readers. Chris Huff, Joe Jepsen, and Bob Beasley, for all taking the time to write. Thanks to all my relatives who are reading. Thanks to everybody back home at church who has been following our travels. Thanks to everybody here in Taiwan who is interested in our experiences here. Finally, thanks to everyone who has emailed, skyped, or chatted. You guys are great!

Youth Group

Saturday, June 19

Well I got up this morning fully intending to go running. I got all ready and was downstairs before I realized that I didn’t have a key. Since no one else was up, I didn’t feel right about just leaving the door unlocked (especially since it has a nasty habit of swinging wide open), and I didn’t want to wake my parents up by going into their room for a key, I decided to skip it. Dedicated runner that I am! I actually paid for it because I fell back asleep until 9:30 and was tired for a long time afterwards.

Before lunch and after dinner I did some work grading tests and recording questions for NETPAW. I learned later this evening that all the work we did recording questions was a waste, but that’s beside the point.

At 4:00 we met at the church. Nate and I practiced with Winters and Pastor Lindsey and another guy who played the drums. I’ll try and get a picture of his shirt uploaded on my blog. It’s a great example of people not understanding the English words on their clothing! We just about died laughing! Anyway, high school youth group started at 5 and ended at 7. After a game, Farkle, we ate a meal of dumplings and the best chicken soup I have ever tasted! Then we listened to Josh’s wife’s testimony. She did a great job! Finally, we played our four songs for the middle schoolers (who meet from 7 to 9). All in all it was a very complete day! We made lots of new friends. Looking forward to tomorrow and all that it has in store for the Beasley family!

Technical Difficulties

Hello, everyone!

Some of you have undoubtedly been wondering why I haven't been posting much this last week. There's a very simple answer. My laptop's power cord has fried itself, as usual at the very worst possible time. I've looked at a couple of places, unsuccessfully, but there's a HP store nearby that I have directions to. Once I can commandeer a ride I can set things straight.

Also, I might warn you that I've been keeping up with the writing on my Mom's computer (which is what I'm on now) so there'll be a good bit posted as soon as I obtain the charger!

Thanks for reading and your patience!
Zach

Some Troubles with a Certain Lock...

Friday, June 18

The sun comes up in Kaohsiung around 5:00 this time of year. It sets really early, maybe around 7:30, but I enjoy the trade off. You know the old Ben Franklin quote, “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise!” Well, I like to rise with the sun, but that’s kind of hard to do when you sleep in a basement! Here, though, (and I’m not sure if this is because of the jet lag, still) I’ve been getting up at 6:30 or 7 every morning. This particular morning I woke up at 6:30 on the dot, slurped some delicious orange drink (with little chunks of tapioca in it!), read a little bit of my Bible, slapped on my running shoes, and walked to the park. I jogged a few laps and was out for about 20 minutes. I probably hit two and a half miles – not bad. I haven’t been running in awhile, and could feel it. I was pretty winded once I finished. I’m planning on doing a lot of running while here to get back in shape for soccer in the fall.

In the early afternoon my brothers and I went back to the park and walked the route that I ran. Isaac and Nate are interested in running with me tomorrow. We also did some various exercising work on the playground equipment, just as I had seen the locals do it earlier in the morning. That time of day there were very few people in the park. When I went at 7 it was packed. I think people like to walk in the morning before work.

Everyone but my dad went out after my parents took their nap. We caught the MRT and took it to stop R-14. From there it was about a mile walk to the church. We hung out in the coffee shop with Winters for a little bit and got some great iced lattés (so refreshing after a hot walk!) and chocolate milk. Isaac and Winters struck up a conversation about where to find a military surplus store. Winters said he is just the guy to go to for that kind of information! Isaac now has the directions, and Winters will accompany him if he has the time.

From the coffee shop we went to the Lins house and took a swim. The water, even though the day was cooling, was still quite warm. I’m now upstairs at the Lins (they live on the 17th floor) typing this at their table while my brothers watch the Borrowers. Actually, we’re stuck in their apartment because we can’t undo their bolt! I’ve been working at that darn thing for five minutes! I guess they never lock their door because of this kind of thing. We boys got the information a little bit too late from Mom, though. Luckily we have our cell phone with peoples’ numbers in it. A guy from the coffee shop, Derrick, came by to help us get out. I guess he had a key. Well, he couldn’t get the door opened with a key from the outside so he went downstairs to talk with the guard. Hopefully we’ll get this sorted out soon! When we finally do get out we’ll catch a quick bite to eat then Mrs. Carol will take us home. Man, these people are doing so much to help us! Everywhere we turn they’re offering to drive us places or help us out. I don’t know what we’d do without them. It’s great to be around God’s people!

The Finest Meal

Thursday, June 17

Today we spent the day with Joey. This was his day off – tomorrow he leaves to study with some friends for a big test he has coming up. We walked about two blocks to the subway station and hopped on a train going west. From there we switched from the orange rail to the red rail and went north. We met Joey at R-13 (Red-13) and took a public bus to the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.

-----Amusing anecdote: while standing on the museum property under a tree colonnade, Joey remarked that there were many wedding ceremonies in this place (you could tell – it was quite beautiful). We turned around, and lo and behold, there was a bride and groom taking wedding photos! My dad got a little sneaky video, as you can see when we get back.

The museum itself was a sight! Unfortunately, cameras weren’t allowed inside. There were all kinds of beautiful paintings as well as solid, 3-D art exhibits. They also had a few rooms with great views past the city and into the blue mountains beyond. By the way, we’re hoping to take a hiking trip out in the mountains before our time here is through.

After an hour or two at the museum, we walked a short distance to Joey’s parents’ house. Mrs. Mei Chien (or Chin, maybe?) Hsieh had a gourmet traditional Taiwanese meal prepared for us! There were so many different kinds of food and so much of it that it was hard to take it all in! We tried many different things, from chicken and fish, to some kind of vegetable soup with a fish meatball in it, to a bamboo-wrapped rice ball with pork and mushrooms in it. One of my favorites was a sweet dumpling with meat and vegetables inside and a tasty black sauce poured over the top. For drinks we had water and plum tea. The interesting thing about plum tea is that it takes one year to make. It is quite salty (now I know why the plum candy that my dad brought home last time tasted like it did!) and very refreshing! For dessert we had some “bean cookies”. In the outside they were a crumbly bread (think baklava but without the honey and stickiness) and inside was a sweet red mashed bean paste. I’ve actually tasted something similar to this before. At the library where I work someone had left some red bean pancakes that I tried and liked.

Next Joey showed us their home. Mr. and Mrs. Hsieh worked hard their whole lives (and Mr. Hsieh is still working) and saved up for retirement. Just last month they bought a two story house in a very nice building and neighborhood. They allowed us to take some pictures. After the tour we watched Alice and Joey’s wedding, which had occurred a little more than three weeks earlier. The wedding was very beautiful. There were definitely some Western aspects to it, but it was interesting to note the Taiwanese cultural traditions as well. Mrs. Hsieh provided us with some delicious fruit – mangos, leechi, and grapes. She also brought out some chocolate fudge! And to top it all off, she sent us home with a giant bag full of mangos! That woman was very generous! I was stuffed! It was the best meal I have eaten so far in Taiwan!

We had to take two trips in Joey’s car to meet Pastor Lindsey. We were going to another elementary school and then to a middle school to pass out more flyers. Nathan, my dad, and I were on the second trip and we got caught at a broken light. The light was stuck on red so we had to wait a good long while. I’ve seen two broken lights so far in Taiwan. It’s a pretty big mess until the cops show up to direct traffic. Unlike in the U.S.A., where you have to treat the broken light as a stop sign, in Taiwan, cars will go until they’re forced to stop by the perpendicular traffic. We were almost late (and cut it very close) but made it just in time! We distributed a good deal of flyers and are hoping for a great turnout this summer!