Umbrellas

Going back a little into the past, I remember that it was not strange in Columbus from around May to see girls that were walking around campus carrying an open umbrella that protected them from the Sun. It was something that reminded me of those movies about the beginnings of the 20th century. There was something in common to all those girls. All were asian. Opposite to western thinking, it looked like they either didn't want to get burned or wanted a milk-white skin.

The amount of sunny days that I have been able to experience here is not so large as in Barcelona, or Columbus, but as soon as there is some Sun, many girls can be seen walking around with an open umbrella (never boys, of course), shielding themselves from the Sun.



And it is not necessary that it is very sunny, because the 12 or 13 degree latitude difference to the South is perceptible in how strongly the Sun burns. There is a noticeable difference early in the morning between walking under some nice trees or crossing the unprotected "wastelands". The difference between coolness or feeling how sweat runs down your back. So, I do not know if they carry the umbrellas because of the skin or not, but just the heat protection makes it a not so weird idea.

I probably should star wearing a cap.

Hanging clothes

The first time I was in my current apartment, when the owners were showing it to me, we went out onto a little gallery where there are the washing machine and the heater. While it was translated that the washing machine was working (even if it almost ruined one of my t-shirts the other day), and that there was space enough to hang the clothes to dry there, the landlady's husband picked a pile of closet hangers and pointed at them. I had seen two long bars over me, but I didn't understand anything. Later, when I walked more around Taipei and looked to the galleries in front of mine, I got it: they hang the clothes, not from a line, but using closet hangers, which are put anywhere they can. It looks like everybody has a small balcony, or bar, or a railing to use. Others are bolder, like here


I find this in my daily walk to my office and they do not seem to have any problem at all, as in many other places, to leave the clothes wherever they fancy, or any other thing that needs to be dried: plastic pieces, mats. There is always something there. The other day, there were some bed sheets and a quilt on top of a car.

So, I do the same, inside my gallery. I looked for a clothesline as the ones back home, with no luck. At most, small pieces of plastic from where you can hang socks or underwear. Maybe I should look for a rope and pegs, and do it myself. Or go to Ikea.

(Back from the Past) Strange working hours

(from 9/5/2008, very late)
Whowever that reads this might think I am crazy, and would be right probably. Since I arrived here, I have followed strange schedules. Having lunch at 12 and, then, dinner between 6 and 7pm, may seem early for us in Barcelona, but once you are doing it and feel hungry, it's not so difficult to do. I must be careful and remember it, because if I do not everything can be closed, except the 7/11s, which close very late, if they close at all. Then, since I have not changed my bedtime, I have hours ahead of me before going to sleep.

Meetings just after lunch are no big deal, because I don't usually eat a lot for lunch. But what I still do not understand is what happened these last twoThursdays, and on a Wednesday. Meetings of the Radioastronomy groups, with almost all of the students, that begin at 7:30pm and finish ... at 11pm or whenever, because I left early very tired. They are interesting, because I am able to see what they are doing and how things work here. They try to use English too, but little by little, they speak more and more in Chinese, until I only understand the many "keywords" they use in English. And even if I can follow somehow their conversations, I inevitably reach the point when I ask myself what I am doing there. At that time.

And now I am writing this, instead of going to sleep. I am definitely crazy.

Duanwu festival

This last weekend, it was the Dragon Boat Festival, which is celebrated the fifth day of the fifth moon of the Chinese calendar. Supposedly, there are rowing competitions in many rivers, where the boats are decorated as dragons. It is a festival celebrated in Taiwan and mainland China, but also in Korea, Japan or Vietnam. It is probably older than it seems.

As in many other chinese holidays —and not only there—, there is an associated type of food. Its name is "zongzi". They are a kind of dumplings, filled with rice, or pork, or chestnuts, or peanuts, or beef, or maybe vegetarian, etc, wrapped in bamboo leaves.

There appears to be two main kinds in Taiwan, all the variety of filling apart. They are boiled and fried in the North, while they are only boiled in the South. I tried a couple at the ASIAA last Friday, and the southern style ones seem lighter, although they are still heavy rice balls. The landlords of my apartment came on Monday, so I could pay them the rent, and they brought two more. Good, but I can't say it was a light dinner.



I was told that the legend explains that is a holiday honoring a very famous chinese poet (no names, nor dates, nothing, so the effect is grander) who killed himself drowing into a river in desperation for the political situation of the country. People, then, threw rice balls into the river so that fish would not eat his body, . One of the funniest students here has a different version, that is that people threw the balls to feed the poet, but the fish ate the rice. So, they wrap them in bamboo leaves, and fish cannot eat them.

Paperwork in the morning

Life is full of surprises. I was told on Friday that I could speed up the paperwork to open a bank account. I had to go back to the Immigration office and ask for the ID number I will have in the ARC. If I had that, I could open an account and also begin the paperwork to get the health insurace.

So there I went yesterday morning. The Sun was scorching and I could really appreciate it walking in the street. The temperature that I saw in my PC when I arrived to my office was 33ºC. No wonder. Anyway, I arrive there, my turn is in five minutes, and that was all. Then, go back to the ASIAA. Very good, very good. Now take these papers, and your ARC number, passport, ASIAA card and stamp (or "chop", which they use to officially sign documents and gives those characteristic red stamps; but more on that another day).

I opened the account in the Post Office, which seems to be the only place where it can be done with a minimum of hassle. From what I have been told, the conditions for foreigners to open a bank account are rather strict and you need a taiwanese guarantor. A mess. I had to wait a little longer and then, here are the documents, sign twice with my name in Chinese —I already know it by heart— on unintelligible papers; here is the deposit; here you have the account book

which surprised me, and come back in four day to pick up your ATM card. Easy and something less to worry about, although I had difficulties to come across a couple of times, when I wanted to clarify some things. In any case, it does not solve my problem of having to pay my rent in cash.

Mukumugi

On Sunday, after the end of the CAST meeting in Hualien, some of us went on a trip to one of the nearby valleys. Sixteen or eighteen got into two vans and started on the road that goes to the Mukumugi valley. There are several very touristical places near Hualien, because of their beauty or so it is said. One of them is the Taroko Gorge, which I have been is one of the must-see places on the island. The bad news is that it is full of tourists. On the other hand, nearby Mukumugi is not so crowded. In fact, one should apply for a permit, because it is a kind of a natural reserve and only around 600 people are allowed to go in every day. I guess that the LOC made the necessary arrangements, because we should have shown our papers at some point, but never were asked to.

We followed the river with the vans. The river twists between very steep mountains. Several hydroelectrical power stations were built during the japanese occupation, which used the water that falls down the hills' slopes.

The guide told us that there are seven or eight along the river. Not very big, but we saw several. The japanese also built the road, with heavy taiwanese loss of life, to control the mountainous inner regions.

The valley is very beautiful, the slopes are blanketed with a dense forest that covers everything.


The riverbed, which doesn't have much water because it's all used for the power stations, is full of large rocks. Many are made of marble that used to be extracted from here. It looks like now it is imported, because the extraction was forbidden —they would have probably finished with everything by now. In the road that leads to the valley, there are many fields littered with huge rocks, similar to megalithic monuments.



The day was rather cloudy and a shifting mist hid the mountain tops, giving an air of mystery and melancholy to the picture. It reminded me of old chinese drawings. I was surprised by the the forms of some trees. And listening to the concert of locust-like insects. I guess it's normal due to the heat and the place, but I identify that sound with the warm and sunny days of summer, with a completely blue sky and a burning Sun, not with fog and drizzle. Oh, I also saw many butterflies. Some are very large.


We walked a little bit on the way back, which was good to enjoy nature and leave behind the van's noise —and their driving style. We stopped in a shed to end the trip, where we bought some food and drinks. After that, back to Hualien.

There, after a good dinner, we nursed a coffe for about two hours before taking the train, while the students kept on asking me how a list of sentences were said in Spanish. They were also telling me how they were in Chinese, but I don't remember much of it. A different weekend indeed.

(Back from the Past) Bureaucracy

(from 22/5/2008)
It is a terrible word and that is what I found today. The good news are that I have my passport back and I have the resident visa. That means that I won't have to go back to Barcelona before my time.



With the new visa, there are 15-days to apply to what they call the Alien Resident Certificate (ARC). I went immediately, walking under a burning Sun. I waited for about 20 minutes, while I tried to understand some long numbers in chinese. No problem, no problem, pay NTD1000, you can pick it up on... June 23rd!. Eh?. Yes, I am sorry we do not have enough cards. How can you run out of cards?!

These are the bad news, because I won't be able to open a bank account until I have the ARC, nor do any kind of paperwork a little out of the ordinary. I will have my first salary in cash and I will have to pay in cash the rent. Fantastic. I am still living the strange life.

CAST meeting

The goal of my going to Hualien was to assist to the CAST annual meeting. This society commemorated 50 years this year. And then some think Taiwan is a third-world country!. The similar Spanish society, SEA, was founded about thirteen years ago and have their meeting every two years. Of course, they spend about a week on that and not just a weekend. I have only gone to one of the SEA meetings, but it was much more worth my time this one than that I went to almost two years ago. Maybe it is because there are proportionally more people doing things similar to mine here.

The meeting was in the Hualien university campus. The building where the talks took place had a fairly impressive look. It seemed rather a factory than a Gymnasium, as it was called.


The mini-conference agenda was ambitious: two one-hour invited talks, plus 26 10-minute talks with a minute for questions. Rather crazy. But, they managed to stick mostly to the schedule. My talk was the next to last of the first day. I don't know how I do it, but it seems as if it is always like that. It went well. I talked about a not-so-new thing, but it was my way of showing them my work. Specially, because another japanese and I were introduced as the new ALMA fellows.


I liked very much the two invited talks, clear, even didactic, and very well executed. A german lady talked about Astronomy teaching in Germany. It was very strange to hear talkig about the educational system of an european country beign so far from there.

It was interesting, in general. I could get to see what people I had seen in the ASIAA corridors did and I even asked some questions. What's wrong with me doctor, is it bad?