MTC arranges trips for its students at the end of every semester, free of charge. As I was mulling over whether to sign up or not, one of the trip organizers told me the 200 spots were almost filled up, so I had to quickly pen down my name.
This semester we went to Manyueyuan (Full Moon) National Forest Recreation Area 滿月圓國家森林遊樂區, for some good ol’ nature fun and games.
Heading off to class in a bit. But this day marks the end of my first semester here at Shi Da. After this is a class trip to Sanxia (三峽) on Friday, and then I’m off for about a week.
It’s been an eventful semester. When I started out, my grammar was terrible and vocabulary infantile, thus I was afraid to speak. Nowadays, I’ll talk to anyone with my still-terrible grammar and slightly improved vocabulary. I learned a lot, but also learned just how much further there is to go.
To put in perspective:
My current book is only considered level 2. It is the first book for people who can already speak and read a little bit.
When I took the practice TOP exam it was only the 2nd level. Granted, I did well enough in that test but I’d definitely run into trouble if I were to take the next level.
I can’t read newspapers yet. I might be able to read a good amount of words from any given article but not understand any of it.
Watching the news is slightly easier, but a lot still gets by me.
So there is still a lot to learn. I’m going to be taking intensive course next term. It’ll be 3 hours a day now as opposed to 2, but there’ll definitely be a couple hours of homework. I just want to learn as much as I can in this semester, and when it’s over I’ll re-assess myself.
If I had to give myself a first-half grade, it’d probably be B. I’ve made improvements but there’s a lot of stuff I’ve been slacking on. I’ll need to emerge from the break with a renewed focus. Work hard, play hard.
Class->Study->Uniqlo->Head home early and get a good night’s sleep
By day’s end, I somehow added “Watch Chinese Opera” in between.
I was on the MRT on my way to Taipei City Hall, to pick up a pair of pants from Uniqlo. Somewhere along the way my mind blanked out, and I exited the MRT one station early, at the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall station. Even worse, I didn’t even notice until after I swiped my card and went through the turnstile. Me: Hmm, exit 2 looks different today…oh shit.
What was I to do? Rather than waste another 12NT to go one stop, I decided to walk it. I glanced at the map for a bit and promptly went out Exit 4.
As I was leaving the exit, I noticed a familiar face just standing right outside. Upon closer examination, it turned out to be someone I knew. After confirming who it was, I proceeded to stare at her until she recognized me. Turns out she was waiting for a mutual friend’s gf to go watch some Chinese opera performed nearby. Since I wasn’t in a particular rush, I decided to wait with her until her friend arrived.
When she showed up, I learned that she had an extra ticket and they asked me to go. I’m not into theater and I’m probably not going to understand a word…but what the heck, I thought. I didn’t have my camera on me but I decided to accompany them for the experience anyways.
Despite my best efforts to stay awake in the beginning, I couldn’t help but doze off just for a little while. It was just like college- sitting in lecture all over again. Not even pinching myself can avert the inevitable slumber. However, just as in lecture, when I woke up I was able to pay full attention for the remaining duration.
It didn’t matter. I didn’t understand a word. Afterwards, when my friends explained the story to me, it made a lot more sense and I was able to appreciate it a lot more.
Anyways, I thought it was more interesting how I was able to bump into my friend completely by accident. Despite the title, Taipei is not that small of a place. I first had to get lost and then somehow choose the right station exit. Also, it’s not like I have that many friends here in the first place. I’m not one to read much into these things, but I’m fascinated by the improbability of it all. It reminds me of something that blue guy in the Watchmen said to the girl. You know, that blue guy with his wang hanging out all the time.
Doctor Manhattan: Thermodynamic miracles… events with odds against so astronomical they’re effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a thing. And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive; meeting; siring this precise son; that exact daughter… Until your mother loves a man she has every reason to hate, and of that union, of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you, that emerged. To distill so specific a form from that chaos of improbability, like turning air to gold… that is the crowning unlikelihood. The thermodynamic miracle.
Laurie Juspeczyk: But… if me, my birth, if that’s a thermodynamic miracle… I mean, you could say that about anybody in the world!
Dr. Manhattan: Yes. Anybody in the world… But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget… I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another’s vantage point, as if new, it may still take our breath away. Come… dry your eyes. For you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly. Dry your eyes… and let’s go home.
It all leads me to wonder one thing: was he wearing underwear when he was a giant and stomping a mudhole in ‘Nam? Is that why they would only surrender to him, and his blue Johnson?
I chose a song by Mayday (sorry, Chinese songs only so Katy Perry was out of the question). Actually it’s two songs- same melody but one is in Mandarin and the other in Taiwanese. Going into the contest, I rightly figured that looking like a regular Taiwanese person would only work against me. Therefore, I had to take it up a notch somehow. Since learning some Taiwanese was a goal of mine while I was here, there was a perfect situation.
The song is called 鹹魚 (xian2yu2)- Salted Fish.
What kind of name is that? Well, a “salted fish” is someone who’s just an average Joe…at best. 很不起眼的人. Run-of-the-mill, unnoticed by society, maybe even worse. The person can be down in the dumps, bottom of his/her career. I guess it gets its name from the rows upon rows of salted fish laid out in many marketplaces.
In my last post I talked about 成語, Chinese idioms. Well this is quite indicative of my incredible timing, because an important idiom relating to the song is coming up:
“鹹魚翻身”(xian2yu2fan1shen1) – Salted Fish Turns Over
This means that this person finds a way to turn it all around, and achieve success.
Let’s look at the lyrics of the chorus:
我 如果有夢 有沒有錯 錯過才會更加明白 明白堅持是什麼？
我 如果有夢 夢要夠瘋 夠瘋才能變成英雄 總會有一篇 我的傳說
If I have a dream, even if I make a mistake, afterwards I’ll only better understand. Understand what perseverance is?
If I have a dream, the dream better be crazy enough- crazy enough to become a hero. There’ll be a page of my own legend.
That’s my rough translation, but hopefully you get the point, and it’s easy to see why I liked this song.
So there you have it, this was the song I chose…in Mandarin.
Next up, the gamebreaker: singing in Taiwanese.
Yup, I learned this one from scratch. The name of this song is “憨人”(han1ren2), which means “crazy person”. It’s heard more often in Taiwanese, pronounced “gong lang”- a (crazy) fool. I had a coach teach me the Taiwanese and the meaning of the lyrics. Content-wise, it’s kind of like the other song.
Here’s the second verse from someone’s translation of the lyrics (link):
背景無夠強 天才無夠弄 逐項是攏輸人
I don’t have a strong background, neither am I smart enough. I can’t compete with others.
只好看破這虛華 不怕路歹行 不怕大雨淋
So I have to put away unreal thoughts and go go forward, even if there’s a storm await for me.
心上一字敢 面對我的夢 甘願來作憨人
Even though being thought of a fool, I’ll fulfill my dream.
There’s also some wordplay here. 敢 (gan3) means “daring”. If you add a heart under it, 心(xin1), it becomes 憨(han1)- “foolish”.
How did I link the songs together? Well, I asked a friend to make a mix of the two song’s instrumentals. It would play the first song all the way till the end of the 2nd verse, and then before the chorus began, it would pause for a few seconds on purpose. When the fans thought the song was finished, the second song started up and I’d go into Taiwanese.
Actually I entered this contest without really thinking about winning. I thought these songs would be perfect way to describe my decision to come here. Those of you that know me would probably understand. Therefore, I really just wanted to perform these songs for myself, and as an inspirational shot to anyone I know.
Probably the best part of this was that, since my mom arrived the day before, she was able to attend the competition. So, in spite not winning, or even almost not competing, this was still one for the Chronicles.
There are thousands of Chinese idioms consisting of just four characters. These phrases are so compact yet so meaningful. Having a few under your belt instantly gives off the impression that you are learned in the ways of the Chinese language. Therefore, it can’t hurt to memorize a few to fire off at any given moment. The great thing about them is how ubiquitous they are– there are idioms for almost any situation. At the very least learn a few to use a pick-up lines?
Armed and ready.
I should carry this around everywhere I go and just chime in on strangers’ conversations with an idiom. Yes, I’m gonna be that guy.
Or maybe I’ll just post one or two every few days. That might be better.
Here’s one:
不辭而別 – bu4ci2er2bie2 – Leave without saying goodbye
Today the Mandarin Training Center is proctoring its own version of the TOP (Test of Proficiency). For ESL’ers, TOP is similar to the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam. In fact, the committee that distributes the real test changed the test’s name to TOCFL, probably to make it sound more official. It’s also become computerized like most major tests nowadays. There are four levels: Beginner, Learner, Superior, Master.
The MTC conducts its own version of the test but simulates the same conditions- same amount of time, done on computer, different levels, etc. The grading system will be altered however, to accommodate for the fact that each class is only expected to know what has been taught. For example, the test is divided into four levels. But even though our class is taking the second level test, there are going to be words we haven’t encountered yet in our textbooks. MTC is taking this into account, and thus we’ll be getting an adjusted score.
If we do well enough, they’ll give us a chance to take the real TOP/TOCFL for free! I’d be getting a good idea of where I stand in terms of Mandarin proficiency. However, it sucks that we’re only taking the 2nd level, which only means there is still so much more to learn. I guess my goal of mastering Chinese in six months is but a pipe dream.
edit: I got a 94 on the test. It consists of 2 parts: an audio section and a reading comprehension section.
Well, sorry to disappoint but I didn’t win at the karaoke contest. There were actually a lot of performers, 33 in fact. Many of them were pretty good, and some even brought guitars. I definitely severely underestimated the competition. Actually, I was almost not going to perform. Since my song had to be specially mixed, I was supposed to have brought it in at least a day before for them to make sure it worked on their karaoke machine. But, in a funny combination of being busy and lacking in foresight, I simply brought a thumb drive containing the mp3 that my friend helped mix for me. When I presented them with the flash drive, the organizer of the event looked like she was going to smack me across the face with it. She gave me a verbal lashing and said “you missed yesterday’s rehearsal so there’s nothing we can do.” There was already a version of my song in the karaoke machine, but it wasn’t my version. That was kind of the whole point. I could have went with the original version but it would’ve been lackluster.
I couldn’t believe it. To think, the only reason I missed out on rehearsal the other day was because I had to pick up my mom coming from the airport early in the morning. Now I was on the verge of not even being able to sing what I wanted.
Fortunately, even though the ladies told me the thumb drive was useless, I rightly doubted their technological know-how and tried my luck with the AV people the room where the karaoke machine was kept. Magically, the monstrous machine had a lone USB port. We were in business.
Checked out this place with some friends a few days ago. It’s a month-long festival taking place in the Huashan 1914 Cultural Park. Not too far from the Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT stop. The area is littered with old buildings that are being preserved by the government. There were a lot of different shops, displays, and exhibits. There’s also an area for a flea market. If you have a Taiwan ID you’re allowed to rent your own stand. Best of all were the free performances. We caught an interesting one with a lot of acrobatics. Enjoy the pics, as well as my perhaps flawed interpretation of wtf was going on:
Old-school soda pops
The Butterfly(?) Princess(?) rises from its slumber, I think
Princess stretches out
Prince Dude shows up. He’s looking to bang.
Young saplings spring out
Saplings learn to play fun games, like using a whip to snap in half a twig sticking out of poor brother’s mouth.
Rodney Dangerfield in his most dangerous stunt yet – leaping over 2 pairs of balls
The cast
Creepy
The festival is now over but that area is constantly being updated with new events. I think there’s a tea-themed exhibit in the coming weeks.
The Chronicles of Greg 