Skywatch No. 25

Taipei, Taiwan nightscape. Technically, the roof I climbed onto for this was off-limits. There would have been a higher vantage point, but I wasn't about to climb up a ladder with a SLR swinging around my neck. Or one-handedly, clutching a camera in the other.

Well. I'll get back to you when I'm done paper-writing.

I Guess Children are Not Evil After All

I realize I haven't had much of an online presence recently, but that's probably because I've been hibernating in my room and not doing anything when I haven't had to.

To compensate, I'll regale you instead with another snippet from Taiwan. As you know, it was a volunteering program in which we taught elementary children English for a couple weeks. This is a portion of my evaluation we were asked to write:

The first few days of classes were chaotic. The students backtalked, made cutting remarks, ignored everything, rebelled. I must admit I was taken aback with the ferocity in their refusals. We spent nights revising our teaching materials and days attempting to keep order. During the afternoon period allotted for students to nap, they swarmed outside to play and we collapsed in the classrooms in exhaustion, only to be woken when they returned.

It was not pretty, but things changed.

Over the course of the two weeks, the students grew to respect us and we them. It had been a no small feat, securing that respect. But once that mutual respect had been established, we found that most of them could be interested, willing to learn. We began to find them endearing.

One day, a few of our students dragged us out to see their meadow.

They showed the patch of cacti (prickly pear? no idea.), then taught us how to harvest the fruit, grind down the spines, and eat them.

There will be more from Taiwan another time. (Unless, of course, you'd rather I write about something else. In that case, let me know. No offense taken.)

That's it this week from an overwhelmed student. Until next time...

Hullo.

I know, I know, I haven't been updating, but it's been a hectic and trying time, this past month. I'm still not sure where all the time went. But it should be good now; I've just settled down at school and am waiting for it to start. It won't be quiet, but at least I'll have something purposeful to do.

So earlier this week, I biked past the cornfield just down the road from our home. They're putting in a new road there, and have started cutting a dirt path through the overgrown meadow next to it.

I wanted to experiment with the lighting, and so conditions that day were rather nicely suited- sunlight, and hovering sometime between late afternoon and early evening. Clear, strong light and angular shadows. Backlight with the sun, power up the flash (something I usually abhor), and suddenly, there's crisply captured action, adequate lighting, and the absence of the hideousness associated with flash. Well. This'll be happening more in the future.

Home Again

Well hello there! I've acutally been home for a month now, just incapacitated with all sorts of rubbish.

But I'm not dead yet, and neither is this blog.

The month in Taiwan was perhaps one of the most well-spent summers I've had yet. There is much to tell, but not enough time in which to tell it. I'd like very much to chronicle everything, but it'll all come little by little.

The first photo comes from Penghu, a little archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan. (faintly circled on the map.) It's where I and five others spent two weeks teaching elementary students English.

It was a trying experience. But more on that later.

This is one of the shots that I have come to love dearly:

I do not remember the name of this island, save that it was perhaps one of the most beautiful places I have ever chanced to lay eyes upon. Sky, meadow, and sea, with beach or rocky coast in between.

Anyhow, I've been starting to filter through my memory cards. They're making their way to one of my Flickr albums. Go visit. I'll be uploading.

Skywatch No. 21 and Other News

Because my lens is shiny and it reflects the trees and the sunlight and the sky which is somewhere beyond those trees:

This could be my last Skywatch for a bit... this time next week, I'll be in the sky and with a camera, but little chance of internet. I'll be in Taiwan for the next month (tropical location? check. height of summer? check. air conditioning? dubious.) on a sort of volunteer/camp program. We teach schoolchildren English, they pay for everything but your plane ticket. It's a pretty good deal.

Their website is here. I personally find it rather poorly organized, but it's decent and serviceable.

Vaccines 1, Andunie 0.

Today, I went out to get immunized for a couple of things I'd like not to kill me. So I drop by the local health department. What transpires is as follows:

NURSE: Have you ever passed out while getting your shots?

ME: Nope!

NURSE: Do you feel dizzy?

ME: ...no.

NURSE: Because this frequently happens to adolecents.

ME: I feel fine.

NURSE: They say they feel fine and then they pass out.

ME: (apprehensively) Really, I feel fine.

NURSE: Well, all right. (jabs a couple of needles in Andunie's arm)

ME: (winces)

NURSE: How do you feel?

ME: (okay) I'm okay.

NURSE: Either way, you should stay in the waiting room fifteen minutes afterwards...

ME: (beginning to feel increasingly lightheaded) Um...

NURSE: ...in case you start feeling a little faint.

ME: (vision starts disappearing; concedes defeat) Actually, I think I'm going to pass out now. (loses conciousness)

And so I spend the next ten minutes lying on the floor of the clinic, and end up stumbling out with a pounding headache. I mean, wtf. It's okay though, because the health dept. girl was really very nice about the whole thing. Not even a single "I told you so" look, to boot.

Skywatch No. 20

A dramatic sweep of sky is like a verbal flourish sometimes. Like the well-executed snatch of prose, the grandeur of a beautiful sky can make a bold statement. The vertebrae of clouds snakes errantly overhead, dispersing little twists and knots here and there, the way we might scatter words like "extravagant," "decadent," or "verdant," amongst the others.

Yet the others are by no means bland- they're all unfurled against a jewel-toned backdrop, deep and vivid. It's shot through with such treasures as "electric," "silky," and "brilliant." Everything blends and weaves together such a grand way that sometimes, you just need to sit back and enjoy the show.

Why Wallpapers Are Not "In"

After walking through my place of residence and counting a grand total of 11 different wallpapers, I have concluded that this house is Special.

After walking through said house photographing wallpaper, I have concluded that I must also be Special.

Either way, have a gander at this eye-offending array.

Thankfully, Numbers 1, 2, 5, 9, and 11 are located in the basement where they belong. Number 12, the Standard White Wall, exists, but would perhaps be put to better use if it multiplied and usurped the more ostentatious ones. Just saying.

Summer Sun

The careless summer of our childhoods. Warm sunlight filtered through the trees. Long shadows across the grass. Laughter drifting on the breeze. Tendrils of smoke from the barbecue, spiraling upwards. The distinctive scent of cut grass, which is also the scent of summer. For a moment, life is good.

Look, I Iz All Gradumicated.

I'll try not to make this too long. I promise.

Here's the deal. A couple days ago, I was suffering from the so-called seasonal allergy like none other. (They're year-round though, so I guess there's one for every season. Liars.) I mean, they were so bad I don't know if I went one continuous minute without my nose in a tissue. All day. It was not pretty. Especially irritating, because we'd a commencement ceremony to sit through the next day.

The problem with doing well in school is that when you graduate, they make you talk, and sit on the stage when you're not talking. Which would be perfectly fine, if I wanted to show off my snivelling and snot-dripping skills and keep my composure at the same time. After some negotiation I was told I could leave my bag under my chair, so I'd have tissues up there.

It ended up being that the chairs were all squashed together, so when I tried to reach under my chair, it probably looked like I was groping my neighbour or vomiting or a combination of both. Sometimes life is special like that.

Making my valedictory speech. I suppose there's a reason I write instead of talk: