Notes From Underground

Greetings from Tainan, city of 1000 temples! This one is Confucius Temple, photographed at dusk.

I’ve spent the last two weeks…

… traveling during my break from classes– going to Chiayi, Siluo, and Tainan, getting a wretched stomach flu, recovering, and diving into a week of using Chinese intensively in my research and new private 1-on-1 Chinese class.  With my tutor, I hope to eventually start READING the historical sources I’ve found which use Mandarin.  Last night, I gave a 20-minute talk to Zheng Da undergraduates about doing research in college: in Chinese. (Broken Chinese, but Chinese nonetheless.)

Phew.

Writing retreat: successful. Hi Mom: look, I survived solo travel in Chinese!

Explicating the details of all these experiences (some recorded without the use of WiFi, oh my!) will fill several more posts, so today I am merely reflecting on the transition into a new phase of my time here: if Kim-Meets-Formosa were a fictional story or novel, I have entered the Rising Action.  I am all settled in, context established, Chinese beefed up on, research contacts made, now time to USE everything.

Appropriately, the pace of the days and weeks has also accelerated.  And now I am cruising at 60 mph, hectic freeway entrance ramps negotiated, I intend to pick up my blogging as well– with shorter, more frequent posts!  maybe I’ll even figure out to get WordPress to let me post some Taiwanese music videos!  Stay tuned for travel logs, research updates, and the best books to read when you’re an expat in Taiwan.

Hope you’re having a great December.  The holiday season seems so far away to me– please remind me of what winter is like in America!

The somewhat famous Siluo Bridge, 西螺大橋, located at the outskirts of my grandfather Thomas Liao's hometown. More on my trip to see Siluo soon!