Accompany Me On My Journeys

For more than two months I was abroad experiencing cultures, sights and sounds that I have never noticed before. I came across some strange familiar sounds in particular. These phonemes I am talking about are words that co-exist in two different languages, only having different morphemes.

Take for example susu, in Chinese it means the father's brother but if you were conversing in Hindi, you would rather not call your paternal Uncle that, would you? Another interesting word I came across was "kana kow" almost like "khana khao" without the aspirated K. The second one in Hindi is merely asking someone to eat their meal but in Taiwanese, well, it is an offensive term.

Another interesting word was pintu to mean gate in Malay, which is a very common nickname in India, and probably the only word to mean something in another language.

Lastly and this might spoil your appetite I came across the word tandas to mean lavatory in Malay, how appropriate no?

Initially I was thrilled when I got to know that I would be learning the saxophone when I first took up the internship. Who would have thunk I would be getting to attend an orchestra perform in concert. I heard the National Taiwan Symphony orchestra perform in Taichung city yesterday and it was simply breath taking. Music is an essential element in every school in Taiwan. And luckily the family I am closest to is very musically inclined. I have heard some amazing classical music-western and Taiwanese in the last few days thanks to Hui Yu.

And today came as a bonus, who would have thunk I would come to Taiwan, get to learn the sax and the piano and then attend two music concerts in the same weekend? Today I got to listen to the hucha, yang-qin, teetha, basoon, saxophone, flute among other instruments in a concert organised by Tzu Chi. Two visually challenged little adorable girls performed too. One sang traditional chinese songs while the other one Taiwanese song.

Its amazing how when the words do not unravel into meaning, yet when combined with melody can touch your heart so deep.

Don't these flowers remind you of sharpener shavings?

In a small town named Houli

I am serenaded with affection



I devour the cacophony, the peace,

the beautiful sights and garbled sounds.

Breathing it all in and sighing it all out



In a small town named Houli

My house is built on a mountain



I bask in the beauty of the image

from the wooden patio of my room

I see mountains and hills

And mist and greenery.



In a small town named Houli

I teach English in Elementary school



I am overwhelmed by their love

My students ask me to sign on sheets of paper

They want to teach me Taiwanese dance

As I strut to class they shout out "Hello teacher Monica"

And a little one grips me in a tight hug unwilling to let go



In a small town named Houli

My colleagues are my family



I revel in the confusion and

grope for familiar words.

I stare at their hands

We are left with phonemes

Followed by nervous laughter



In a small town named Houli

I live with a local Taiwanese family



Modest and only to happy to help.

The children are fascinated with Skype

My home-stay parents try their best

to communicate with broken English



In a small town named Houli

Every meal brings something new



The food bland for the Indian palate

Every morsel melts in my mouth

Sea-food, spinach, green beans,

tofu, mushrooms, bamboo, rice and soup

I taste everything "without legs"



In a small town named Houli
I take the train to the city



My eyes waver to the huge windows from my book

On my left I pass green fields and traditional houses

On my right the mountains outline the horizon

Every train ride leaves me feeling rejuvenated



In a small town named Houli


I see nothing like in the city



A mere twenty minute train ride

And a gaping cultural difference

The ostantatious dressing fascinates

I walk throuh the lanes of the nightmarkets

Its a paradise -Every shop calls out

the smell from every food stall lingers

The track of time is always lost





In a small town named Houli
I feel I am at home.

What is it made up of? Husband,wife and dog. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, many Taiwanese prefer having a dog instead of children. Maybe we should take a cue from them to control the bursting population in India. I have been tremendously fascinated by the cute variety of dogs I have seen here. And then on speaking to the locals what do I find out; I was so amused and shocked on hearing that most couples prefer dogs to children.

From the time I have stepped into Taiwan, whatever Bubble Milk Tea (pronounced Chunchu Naitha) I have consumed has been free. Yes, not a single penny spent. I know Vicky is probably burning if he happens to read this. And its the most expensive tea in the tea shops. They have tea shops all over Taiwan by the way. Its not the you can sit and kill hours kind of place, more like takeaway counters. So I have consumed liters of this tea.


Like I said in my earlier post, the Taiwanese love their bubble milk tea. But you offer it to any girl and you get "No! No! Too fatty". The tea has pieces of a black chewy substance , refer to image below. Vikas and me contemplated on what these yummy things were. 

While I am used to getting to the other end of the city in less than 20 Indian rupees, I find Taiwan expensive in that respect. Actually Taiwan is just super expensive for everything. The trains and bussed are air-conditioned, they have automated doors and swipe cards. The frequency of the buses is horrible in the towns, possibly one bus in an hour sometimes longer and the last bus from Taichung station is at 10.30 p.m. Hence most people travel by either cars, scooters and bicycles in Taiwan.

Getting from West to East Taiwan is another ordeal I have to figure out. There is no direct root, you have to go all the way up North or South and then go to East Taiwan. And transport and accommodation doesn't come cheap either. The road from the West to East has been destroyed by the 1999 earthquake and post that there have been incidents of rocks falling over cars on the road and crushing them. Due to lack of choice the Taiwanese choose safety over ease. The East is supposed to be really really beautiful, also dangerous as it is a highly earthquake prone region. Hence there are parts of it that remain undiscovered.



(image courtesy: http://www.ideachampions.com/heart/taiwan_map.jpg)