(Hey Ho) Let's Go

It is a different New Year, but I thought that I could as well use the Chinese New Year to make some change. So, after about nine months and because I was already itching to do it, I put on my shorts this morning, the new sport shoes that I finally brought from Barcelona, and, there we go!, to run for a while, early in a holiday morning.


My early run had two additional goals, that is to explore a route along the river and to test how I was. On the first thing, the path is fairly good, I should have taken my camera. About the second, very good also. I am a little rusted, of course, after so much time without jogging, but I felt much better than I expected. The pace could not be too fast, naturally, but I ran for a little bit over 40 minutes and I was not tired at all. Quite the opposite, and since I felt so good, the itch to do it again is already inside of me. Today was a very cloudy day and slightly cold, but with a very good temperature to run. Besides, the streets were almost empty. I can still feel the exhilaration that filled me at the time.

Now, I only need to make some space for it in my schedule and go jogging more often. It would not do to wait for such a long time again.

Golden and Red

Next Monday is the Chinese New Year, so tomorrow is New Year's Eve. A big day to welcome the Year of the Ox. Since I arrived to Taiwan two weeks ago, I could see in supermarkets, or in 7-11s, small mountains of things related to the typical food or ornaments of this time of the year. Little by little, I have seen how decorations have been put up everywhere. In shops, in homes, in offices; similar to Christmas in Europe. But here, red and golden colors are overwhelmingly the main colors used. Lucky colors, I think. As an example, some of the things on sale in a shop I visited last Sunday


Moreover, the temples I visited in Changhua, and the one I have seen in Taiwan, were particularly decorated with many lanterns, red naturally; and I could also see some temple doors lined up with LED strings. I was told that there are many celebrations all around the island during these next days and weeks: from lantern festivals, burning of paper ships, fireworks and firecrackers festivals (apparently very dangerous), etc

Talking about pyrotechnics, I have already began hearing some fireworks and firecrackers near my apartment; even if I was told that they were forbidden —maybe only some types—, and it is very different, and quieter, than a few years ago. I will have a chance to see how spectacular it is tomorrow evening. It is out of season for me, but I kind of like hearing the familiar sound of firecrackers blowing up in the night.

Coming back from the PSROC meeting

On Wednesday evening, late, I came back from spending three days away from Taipei. From Monday to Wednesday, I attended the annual meeting of the Physics Society of the Republic of China that took place in Changhua, near Taichung. It was one of those massive meetings, where the Astrophysics part is rather reduced, lost among many talks on all branches of Physics, with an attendance, I was told, of over a thousand people.

For once, I approached it, or I was made to, as a few days out, rather than a very interesting meeting. As usual, I could taste some local dishes and enjoy once again taiwanese cooking. I could also visit some of the temples around, but I will leave that for later.

On the scientific side, the NTNU students managed to complete their posters and print them. They were not too bad at the end, specially compared to the initial versions; and I was very happy, for them, that they could finish them all. Some did it almost at the very last minute. I hope they understand now that you cannot leave some things for the last day; but I am not very confident on it.

Parking

Many motorcycle drivers, specially if the motorcycle is small, do not seem to care too much what they must do to leave their machine where they want it to be. Here in Taiwan, even more. I have seen some re-arranging two or even three scooters so that they can squeeze in theirs. As an example, this couple I saw last week.

They moved the left-hand scooter a little bit to the left and, after some effort, managed to put their scooter in the small space left. I am not so sure, though, about how the rest could get their scooters out afterwards.

Adding numbers

Another one far from home. It is not the first time, so no problem. I managed to get together a small group of people and went to have dinner, delicious, in a japanese restaurant. The truth is that I was very pleasantly surprised, with a small gift

and the usual required procedure


Today, a song of congratulation via Skype. Very nice.

Encore

I had another celebration today. This time it was a Year's End lunch. That is the good thing of somehow belonging to two institutions. This time it was the NTNU Department of Earth Sciences' lunch. Quieter in a way than the one last Saturday —there was no KTV—, but with a similar structure. This time, I really stuffed myself. It was a less fancy restaurant than the one in the hotel where we were on Saturday, but the food tasted better and was much more generous. Too much, probably. They (my supervisor) bought some bottles of chilean and australian wine and, as you can imagine, we finished each one of them.

There was another lottery too. I was told that it is a chinese tradition of this time of the year. This time I got a 2GB USB stick. It looks like I am collecting them.

The most interesting part for me was the completely taiwanese environment: the typical chinese round tables, food and more food, happy conversation —I even spoke some French with some guy—, jokes, smiles, and many very curious toasts, face to tace, more elaborated than I imagined.

I almost fell asleep in the car on the way back, feeling warm and with a full stomach. But life is hard and I have six students that are supposed to come to my office between today and tomorrow to review the poster they should be presenting in next week's conference. So, no rest for the wicked. Most of them are late and with problems. As someone said (free translation) you can almost chew the tragedy.

Year's End Party

It has been a lethargic week-end, but I probably needed it. Yes, I went to the ASIAA Year's End Party, in the 44th floor of the Shin Kong Life Tower —the second tallest building in the city—, but I forgot my camera at home (I am forgetting too many things lately). A pity, because I could have tried to take some nice pictures from way up high.

There is not much to tell about the party: dishes and dishes, most of them really good, but I did not dare eat too much from them, because it always looked like there would not be enough food for everybody in the table (and then, when there was some left, maybe I was already full); a long drawing of gifts —I got two meal coupons for an apparently nice restaurant in Taipei— and another KTV session, that I was able to escape from unscathed. A gentle way to touch the taiwanese soil again.

Dragging the cold

I could see how it snowed in the Poble Nou and Ciutat Vella the last night before leaving Barcelona. It was not a big one, maybe more ice than snow, but enough to be counted as such. The temperature was very low for Barcelona.

It may not seem so, but there are also low temperatures in Taiwan in the winter, but until yesterday, every time I looked in the web what was the weather like, the maximum temperatures every day were from 18º to 20º C, and the minimum temperatures around 15ºC. Today, the maximum temperature was close to 15ºC and the forecast for tomorrow is below that, with a minimum of 8ºC. It may not feel that cold for some more hardened spirits, but it is extremely cold for the locals. It looks like I took some cold with me in my luggage (nobody would have said that in the hour or so I spent in the Bangkok airport).

Anyway, there is the Year's End party of the ASIAA tomorrow, and I will be able to use the coat I brought from Barcelona. Now I need to buy a blanket for my bed.

Back in Taipei

This blog was not very active before going back to Barcelona, but I was planning on adding some new entries once in a while. Unfortunately, there was no way to remember or to find the peace of mind to write, and I got nothing done.

I landed in Taiwan this evening, after a trip slightly shorter than the way out, all the connections and schedules were kept almost to the minute and I did not had any major problem —apart from forgetting the adaptor for the plug of my laptop in Barcelona , a big mistake!, but I already have one brand new.

So, that is all for now. I slept a lot in the plane, but I am still very tired and I could use some more sleep. I will leave the tales of my adventures for some other day ,but I just wanted to say that this blog is still alive.