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Traffic mannequin
Wearing an awful lot of clothes, as a friend remarked to me.Two dramatic changes have occurred in my life in the last month. The first is that I, in keeping with a proud family tradition, have grown a moustache. Friends from school may remember the proud creature which briefly graced my face last November-- well, the current iteration is even more spectacular. Popular response has not been encouraging; my friend Pamela told me with undisguised disappointment I looked like an
abuelo, Marian informed me that he felt like he could no longer trust me, and Dan made a big scene about insisting that he saw me on the FBI's Most Wanted list. But I am buoyed by my Australian friend Dave's reaction, which was to show unabashed admiration and remark that "moustaches are a little out of style, but that's why they're fun". Which just about sums it up.
The other news is that three weeks ago I joined my school's Dragon Boat team. The Dragon Boat Festival is a big holiday which happens in June, during which time teams from all over Taiwan come to race in long colorful boats shaped like Dragons. The team from my school is made up of about 18 guys and 12 girls from all
Bicycle built for one
But who's counting? Most bicycles in Taiwan seem laden with a little more than they were built to carry, and hardly anyone wears a helmet. around the world, with a particularly large representation from Latin America. They are easily among the friendliest and most awesome people I've met here. We practice from 6:30-9:00 every weekday morning, which has significantly changed the structure of my day. Gone are the luxurious mornings spent drinking tea and studying, as well as the late nights reading or playing video games (currently replaying an old favorite, Secret of Evermore...). What I've gotten in return, however, is a wonderful group of friends, the chance to participate in a unique and ancient Chinese tradition, the honest fatigue which comes from hard physical labor, and a degree of physical strength and health which I've probably never had before in my life. A fair trade, seems like.
The first few weeks were spent on conditioning, but since last Wednesday we've been on the water every morning. The competition is only a few weeks away, so every day there is a palpable heightening of intensity. Today the coach (a quiet, intense, and humorous Taiwanese man with very little hair) had us row for over 2000m straight. A Dragon Boat is neither light nor speedy; rowing for 2 km took nearly 20 minutes of solid pulling,
Crook and Shadow
At the site of a house in the process of being demolished. The afternoon sun was low, every shadow was spectacular. and may have been the most exhausting thing I've ever done. A few minutes into the haul, with all of us grunting and cursing, the coach laughed from his position at the head of the boat and told us that we had to push through the "dead point", a term which he never defined but which we understood all too intimately. He was right, too-- there came a point when it was no longer painful, no longer even difficult, when my body just moved of its own accord and my mind accepted the absurd circumstances and watched quietly. He seemed pleased at the end of it all, and had us rest by laying flat on the guy sitting behind us, letting the boat drift along with the current. That moment, feeling the sun on my face and the river around my foot and the pulse of the blisters in my hands, was divine.
Note: The pictures on this post have nothing to do with the above; they are simply a collection of images taken on various strolls and hikes over the last month. The captions should be self-explanatory.
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Bob
non-member comment
facial hair
...nothing wrong with it! I vote "keep it".