Posted in Health, Medicine on Nov 27th, 2006 No Comments »
It’s raining.
And the water on the windows is painting a Monet portrait of Seattle.
A week of jetlag.
Digging through two months of mail.
Remembering to line up, instead of crowd.
Following Asian rules of spacing and distance often has me trampling on western toes. Readjusting to American rules and habits, leaves me feeling isolated and stiff.
Perhaps the jetlag [...]
Posted in Taiwan, Travel on Nov 17th, 2006 3 Comments »
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Your hotel room has karaoke equipment, and that seems like a good idea.
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You tuck your scooter up against the bus at the left turns, and have it run interference for you.
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Pizza does not seem like a good idea.
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Sewers smell worse than chou doufu.
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You feel very strange when after a dinner with other foreigners, the check [...]
Posted in Taiwan, Travel on Nov 16th, 2006 No Comments »
You know this kind of familiarity.
Your destination is North. Do you take I-5 or Aurora? 新生南路 or 中山路?
Don’t even think, kick over the scooter and give the handles a twist.
North is all you need to know, just flow the feeling and follow northward.
To the uninitiated, Taipei traffic looks like Chaos on a bad hair day.
Truth [...]
Posted in Herbs, Taiwan, Trauma, Travel on Nov 15th, 2006 4 Comments »
Maggie should know better.
After all, she’s Taiwanese.
Like most businesses, 85度c Taipei’s new cool hip 24 hour coffee joint and bakery, near the vivid and colorful Yong He night market, has glass doors that slide slowly open.
Unlike American doors that trip the IR beam from meters away, the Taiwanese doors require you get right up to [...]
Posted in Taiwan, Travel on Nov 14th, 2006 2 Comments »
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The first time I saw this motorcycle’s mudflap, I just about fell off my scooter with tear streaming laughter.
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Posted in Language, Taiwan, Travel on Nov 10th, 2006 No Comments »
真的是一件很讓我覺得挫折感的事。
聽到特標準的中文。
感覺到其特殊的口味， 跟英文完全不同的語法。
呼吸中文的旋律及節奏引起我的思想和說法變成一個中國影響的世界。
但是開口為說話的時候， 所有的字都發錯了。
因為長期的習慣和腦子裡還思考的是英文。
可能我越覺得不滿足， 我的中文越好。
因為我知道錯就是在那裡。
當然也有特快樂的片刻。
有的時候， 語言及字沒有什麼障礙。
能流利說話， 像一條從山上的小溪咕咕嘟嘟快樂的聲音一樣。
Posted in Taiwan, Tea, Travel on Nov 9th, 2006 No Comments »
It is not a leaf or region.
It is not a taste of bitter or sweet,
or a feeling in the mouth.
It is an unfolding connection between plants and rain, mountains and mist.
Soils, insects, sweltering afternoons of sun, and moonless nights of dark.
It is an art of timing, selecting and drying.
Bruising and rolling.
Roasting and laying fallow in [...]
Posted in China, Herbs, Medicine, Prostate, Wellness on Nov 6th, 2006 No Comments »
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, like so many Chinese cities, is all scooters and sprawl, pedicabs, cars, and endless traffic jams as newly moneyed Chinese join the rat race of consumerism.
In addition to being the home of that uniquely spicy and tongue numbing delight, 麻辣火鍋. Sichuan is also a province rich in agriculture, and [...]