Saturday April 27th, 2013
Rotary Trip Day! This time was to Yingge, which should sound
familiar to y’all since I’ve already been there with host family. Yingge is the
pottery filled town with museum and a street chalk full of stores containing
all types of pottery. Even though this wasn’t a new place for me, things I
hadn’t experienced during my last visit were pleasant surprises today.
Exchange Student Stampede! ...part of it anyway. :P
Such a surprise was our first activity, stopping by a place
where we could both shape pottery and paint premade cups. These two actions
took a couple hours to complete but were packed with enjoyment.
First was a short table for painting a premade white cup.
Painting is the first step but afterwards the shop will glaze the cups and send
them to us when finished. You could easily sketch with a pencil and then paint
over it, which was the approach I took. If not pleased, it was simple to smudge
off the pencil marks. The paint used was a strange consistency because it dried
within a second. Seriously, it dried on contact with the cup! Some
experimentation was needed to figure out the water to paint ratio consistency
but I managed to get the general hold of it.
Viola! My cup was inspired by the Japanese design I’ve seen
that pairs bun-buns and the moon together. It’s sweet and simple. Not a bad
bunny for a paint brush, huh? ;P
For the second half, we sat down at the rotating pottery
making device and sculpted away! With a lump of clay, the teacher showed us the
basic technique to form basic things like a cup, bowl and plate. I tried to get
artisty with mine and create a dish that’s a mutant between a bowl and a plate
but then the teacher came and automatically (without asking me) shaped it down
into a plate. Without further questions I had to end my shaping time so other
people could get a turn. Regardless, I’m still happy with the final product,
that is, at least the upper side (bottom has some flaws underneath from
removing it from the machine).
Afterwards we took our individual sculpted potteries
(whatever type of dish we chose to make) and took a wooden tool to carve a
design into the moist clay. I dedicated the plate to Taiwan by writing Taiwan
in both English and the two Chinese characters. The sun in the middle is the
sun taken from the Taiwanese flag. I can easily see the final product as quite
attractive if red, blue and white paint is added.
The final exchange student products. As you can see, people
shaped many different potteries from pots to cups to plates. Apparently we’ll
be sent the final product in June but hopefully they can ship me mine overseas
considering I’ll be in America at that point in time.
A good reason this experience was kept really delightful was
because I adopted simple designs for both crafts. See, I’m very much a
perfectionist when it comes to my art. Mechanical pencil and eraser is my
constant companion because I erase and reline frequently to get that perfect
curve or angle needed for the picture. Therefore painting and carving is a lot
more challenging especially with the quick drying paint. But even with my
simple designs, I quite like how they turned out. Simple but still pretty and
not stress inducing (good for my perfectionist side).
Our Rotary Exchange Student Gang at the Pottery Making Place!
After our crafts were complete and we cleaned up, lunch
rolled around. A hefty size bowl of Chinese “biandan” was provided by Rotary.
Though you see a chunk of meat, veggies and a triangle of tofu, it was only the
minority of the contents. Not unusual, hidden rice dominated the bottom in a
large volume. I wasn’t surprised to see many exchange students left the rice
uneaten. Some, not all exchange students mind you. I nibbled on the rice
because the relatively thin top layer (everything but rice) wasn’t quite enough
for a whole meal. Overall, pretty tasty with the meat being the highlight.
Friendship time! Mika and me!
And insert a Taiwanese girl that came along the trip with
Rotary. She was very nice and sweet, a new pal! :D
Heading to the museum, fun time with friends took place. I
got to know both the Taiwanese girl and this German boy (to the right) better,
liking both their personalities. The chica got clued in on some inside jokes
with my other friends and somehow the German boy called me ‘bunny’ as I called
him ‘Shep’ (short for German Shepard). Good times, good times! ^_^
Our troop in front of the Yingge Pottery Museum
So yes, I’ve already visited the Yingge pottery museum
before but to my surprise it was a totally different exploration. Last time was
mainly looking at pieces of professional, modern or historic pottery art. This
time was focused on how to make
pottery. A tour guide took us through displays of different clays, glazes,
furnaces, etc. to explain the process to us. Since I could relate to it better
after recently doing pottery, I found it all really interesting and engaging as
if something not unattainable.
Funny enough we didn’t look at any of the pottery I saw last
time, which I admit I’m glad for since I didn’t want to have a repeat of the
same stuff. Instead we went outside to pottery demonstration areas. Three in
total, each has their own style and terminology (unfortunately I forgot their
individual names, sorry!). I did capture two though!
One was based on pouring clay into a mold, letting sit and
dry or baking it in a furnace. The tin can holds the liquid clay and you dispense
it into three-part white block molds held together by a black band.
After all dry and hard you get these cute little figurines
from animals to tiny people to whatnot else. Cool procedure!
Another was a turntable spun by your own foot. This man put
on an entertaining show by asking for volunteers and surprising the audience. I
took a video to capture the amusement. He seemed like a charming, humorous man.
Then we were rounded up into a video room to see a movie
that advertised different companies potteries. One moment I saw pretty
creations and the next, blackness. The blackness comes from slipping out of
consciousness. XD
To my great disappointment we weren’t able to visit the old
Yingge street where we could purchase various types of pottery. Nooooooo!
That’s the primary reason I was looking forward to coming here! I saw a cup
last time, took a picture and debated it for a couple days. Once I decided to
buy it, that meant I would have to go back to Yingge. Well I was there
today…but couldn’t get it…sadness! I’ll have to find some magical free time to
take the train all the way to Yingge, buy the one cup, then ride the train all
the way back. Hours I wouldn’t need to waste if I got ten minutes in the old
street today. Yeah…sadness. Life goes on though!
The cup dilemma was immediately wiped away from my mind when
the bus landed me back at my neighborhood. Upon the sight of something special,
my body was screaming to be released from the bus. In my head I was mentally
shouting, “LEMME OUT! LEMME OUT! LEMME OUT!” The unexpected spectacle
contained too much exhilaration and inquisitiveness for this Texan girl. ;P
Three little words: Ba…Jia…Jiang! BA JIA JIANG AHOY! A
ritual procession was just coming around the corner leading to the house when I
arrived. Camera was whipped out and began recording. At this point the short
parade was only walking, not doing any dances or such things, but purely seeing
the sight of three Ba Jia Jiang was thrilling. When one of the three looked my
way and gave a little friendly wave, I nearly turned silent squealing into
being audible. The significant of his motion was that he broke character (which
he shouldn’t do) to make a friendly gesture to a foreign bystander. That’s
totally amazing! *goes into (joking) analysis
mode* Surely it means Ba Jia Jiang wants to be buddies with me! The wave
symbolizes a pact for them to temporarily cease their ferocious disposition to
befriend an admirer of their culture. That would be so cool! Of course, that’s
not what the wave actually meant. …or is it? Why did he do it in the first
place? …IT MUST BE FOR FRIENDS I TELL YOU! :D
I followed the
procession to a tiny temple quite near my host family’s living quarters. I’ve
never visited this temple before because it’s not much of a looker compared to
fancier temples throughout Taiwan. While the short parade did some ceremonious
things, I stood by and snapped away photos and videos. Though I paid attention
to all that was going on, my gaze obviously kept falling upon Ba Jia Jiang oh
so biasedly. :P The explosion of fireworks was a little frightening because not
only were they extremely loud but the red flakes from the wrappers were falling
from the sky and got me thinking they might accidently burn me. Thankfully no
burns were had and I could watch in peace.
In front of the
temple, the Ba Jia Jiang sat down on stools during the ceremonious stuff with
other ritual objects. I waited and hoped they would do a dance of some sort but
sadly that never happened. Nonetheless, just seeing them in person was pretty
cool! I could get a closer look at their costumes.
They were definitely in character at this point. No smiling,
no waving, just being intimidating.
The parade seemed to end at this little temple so it was
time to close up shop, if you will. All three guys were being disassembled of
their daunting roles. Off went their hats, huge busy eyebrows, shoulder arms,
etc. I only stayed until this picture was taken because it felt weird and
stalkerish to watch them get out of costume. Even if only a little and no
dancing, I was still very happy to have seen Ba Jia Jiang so close and so
unexpectedly. Whoo-hoo!
Wrapping the day up with a Skype to my family and that’ll
end it nicely. Have a nice day all! Byes!
After browsing around an area with several small but similar
shops, I was draw to a fabulous pair that undeniably caught my attention. Shoes
that was akin to my old ones, basically the same type except for a few slight
adjustments. Same old blue coloring except it was spilt into blue and purple
sections. Same comfortable arch supports that were a delightful welcome,
highlighting how flattened my old ones are. Perfect shoe fit since I took the
same size as my old ones (yes they understand American shoe sizes). It felt
like I was wearing my old shoes that were magically revived to their former
glory. Therefore I knew it would be the best quality buy possible since I
already knew how good these shoes are and how much I LOVE them. Comparing
prices, Taiwan is not cheaper than American prices. I paid the same amount as
one normally would in America. Nonetheless, I LOVE THESE SHOES and can’t wait
to start wearing them for their loveliness! ^_^
The wall could be divided into two sections, the left for
guys and the right for girls. This is so because the left is a harder level
than the right’s lower difficulty. Therefore girls (and anyone really chubby)
were automatically categorized to the right while guys were assigned for the
more difficult side. Yeah there’s some slight sexism in that but it’s not
unusual in Taiwan. So some classmates tried and conquered the wall while others
just sat it out, skipping the opportunity. For me, there was no way I would
turn down this chance! The only memory I have of rock climbing walls was during
an elementary school field day where I had an absolute fail of an attempt to
scale a wall. Seriously, it was pathetically bad according to my memory. So I
wanted to try and redeem with a hopefully better stab at it today. Maybe even
getting to the top! Fingers were crossed for sure!
The entire trip with transportation, teaching period and
climbing went from 8:00 to 12:00. It landed us back at Tatung in time for
lunch. With the morning’s nice little workout, lunch was more satisfying even
with my relatively simple selection. The chicken wasn’t too flavorful and had
less meat with more bone from what I expected. Stinky tofu, cabbage and eggs
were delicious though!
