The Dark Village

This was on the BBC News website today. I went to an aboriginal festival in Hualien a couple of years ago, but I didn't know there was a group that didn't have electricity. I think it's interesting that it's the younger crowd that doesn't want power.



Taiwan's dark village sees the light
By Caroline Gluck
BBC News, Hualien county


The Amis tribe is one of 13 official aboriginal groups in Taiwan
High-tech Taiwan is one of the world's most wired societies and one of the globe's largest economies.
So it is something of a surprise to discover that there is still one place where people live - along Taiwan's sparsely-populated east coast - which is not connected to the electricity grid and has no access to power.
It is an aboriginal settlement, known locally as the Dark Village, nestled in a valley in Hualien county.
Legal disputes over the land are the main reason the site never got connected to the mains grid.
Decades ago, the area was taken by the government and developed for forestry.
But today the local people - members of the Amis tribe, one of Taiwan's 13 officially-recognised aboriginal groups - are trying to reassert their ancestral land claims.

Mixed views
As the sun sets, we drive to the Dark Village - about half an hour away down a narrow, dirt road, which was built just one year ago and is often cut off by falling rocks during heavy rains and typhoons.
It is dark - very dark - when we arrive.


The community live in about a dozen basic, corrugated iron houses in the Dark Village for about half a year, during the main planting and harvest season.
The rest of the time they live in another nearby village, Talanpo, which is connected to electricity.
The tribe uses wood fires for cooking and baking their locally-harvested crop, the daylily, an edible flower traditionally used in Chinese cooking.
Oil lanterns provide some light. They have lived like this for decades.
But just a few months ago, the government installed electricity poles near the settlement to pump water from nearby streams to Liushidan Mountain - an increasingly popular tourist spot with stunning views of the island's Central Mountain Range, where restaurants and hotels are springing up.
It has opened up a divisive debate among the tribe about their own future, particularly between the young and old.

The tribe live in the Dark Village during the daylily harvest season
Community elders, like 66-year-old Potal, are keen to see electricity installed.
"I really, really want power in the village," he said. "I've been living there for so long, but now I want to enjoy some modern facilities.
"I'd like to put fresh food in the refrigerator. I don't want to have to heat up wood for fires to cook every time I want to eat. I've been waiting for this for such a long time."
Kiko, a 63-year-old grandmother, agreed. "Not having electricity is like being blind," she said.
I ask her what is the first thing she will do if the village gets electricity. She reels off a list of goods - a refrigerator, a washing machine, a television set and a mobile phone.

Without electricity, people get together after work; they share things with each other, tell stories - Masawo, 28

But while village elders are excited by the prospect of electricity, younger tribal members are less keen.
Masawo, 28, used to work in the city but returned to the village when his parents died.
He talks of a special community spirit, which he fears may disappear forever.
"Without electricity, people get together after work; they share things with each other, tell stories. I think it's a better life.
"It's not necessary to have electricity. You can wash clothes by hand. With no TV, we have more time to chat and discuss together."
And even though the women spend much of the time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning by hand, mother-of-four Okoc is also reluctant to see change.
"I like things the way they are. Here we use oil lanterns, like in the old times. It seems better like that. If you had power, you wouldn't be able to see all the stars, and all the natural living things, like frogs and other animals, would run away."
Christian faith
At day break, I join the tribe, who are Christian, as they head to the fields to pick daylilies - shortly before they set off for Sunday service in church.

Electricity pylons are now making their way onto the landscape.
The daylilies need to be harvested and dried just before they bloom. And everyone pitches in, turning to a traditional Amis work exchange system called Malapaliw, in which farmers help out every family in rotation.
Their Christian faith and a strong community spirit is why younger tribal members now say they do not want to see any more arguments and will respect the views of elders who are so keen to have electricity.
But one compromise could be solar power, which would fit with the tribe's desire to develop projects such as eco-tourism and trekking and retain the character of the local environment.
Presbyterian church leader Rev Chang Ying-mei - who has been instrumental in helping the village think about how it wants to develop in the future - hopes the advent of electricity will bring only superficial changes.
"Power won't change their lives..." she began to say, "but who knows? People's desires are endless.
"I'm positive about the future because the village spirit is strong," she added.
"But one thing will change. The name, the Dark Village, will have to go."

I'm back..............

.....in the Taiwan. I got back into Taichung late Saturday night (actually 12:30 Sunday morning) and had a wonderful Taiwanese welcome, brought to me by Freego Buslines. After 20+ hours of traveling, we finally pulled up in front of the Sogo Department store close to my apartment. The bus was full - I actually didn't have a seat, but one man put his tiny daughter on this lap and let me sit next to him - hence, there was lots of luggage in the cargo hold under the bus.

The driver didn't bother coming out, he just let me and another girl off and only opened one of the hatches. The girl crawled in and dragged her suitcase out. I reached in and grabbed one of mine (I had 2), put it down beside the bus and saw my other one was out of reach. So I put followed suit and crawled in to get the second one....and then the door closed and the bus started pulling away!

So I yelled "hey!", but the bus didn't stop. And I yelled "hey" again. And the bus didn't stop. So I started yelling and screaming and kicking the door - there was no room to stand in the cargo, I was lying across someone's suitcase. And it stopped and the door opened. I jumped out, put my second suitcase down, looked down the road and saw my first suitcase standing by itself on the side of the road, walked up to the front door of the bus, and Lost. My. Shit. I won't go into details. There was a girl sitting by the driver (actually, she had sat next to me on the plane out of Detroit) and she just kept saying "I'm sorry." I guess it was her job to press the button for the cargo door.

Most of the passengers stood up and gawked out the windows at me. Even if they didn't speak English, they have probably seen enough American movies to get the gist of what I was saying! So, I stuffed my bags in a taxi and went home and stopped shaking about a half hour later. Wheee!

Anyway, back at work, slowly getting over the jet-lag and wonky sleeping patterns (passing out at 9:00pm, waking up 4:30am) and will hopefully be right as rain and a lot less pissed at Freego Bus by next week!

Bridget

In the final stretch!

Home in 6 days! I keep telling myself I don't have much to do, then I think about it for a few minutes and start twitching nervously! I just got my computer fixed up (it was slow and contrary) and decided to start on one of my biggest, most procrastinated projects - importing my cds on to my computer. Why did I think this would be an easy task? I have a disgusting amount of cds. It's been 2 days and I'm still on the "c's". At the same time, it's so much fun. I have music that I haven't listened to and forgotten about and it's great to relive it. I have 8 Johnny Cash albums!

I have recently moved down to the other branch of my school, the Nan Men Road campus which is where I started out and so far it's been great. More of a commute now, but it's not too bad. I'm sure I'll be whining about it in 4 months though!

Here is some recent oddness for your amusement;

About 2 weeks ago, I was leaving Grooveyard (local live music bar) and was stopped by a Taiwanese man and woman who asked me if I wanted to be in a commerical. Turned out the commerical was for diet pills and they wanted me to be the "before" picture. "You so beautiful, we take picture of you, then use computer to make you slim. We pay you 2000NT up front!" I told them I was not interested, then dragged my deflated ego home.

Last Sunday night I was woken up at 2:15AM by the security guard who knows no English, but frantically managed to communicate I should get out of my apartment. It turned out there was a girl on the floor above me who was threatening to jump out the window and they were scared she would land on my patio. I threw on some clothes and came out to find the cops, an ambulance with stretchers ready to go and the fire department with the trampoline/net thingy set up on the street below. Anyway, I didn't see her jump, but apparently she did and is fine. It's been difficult getting information about it seeing as my Chinese sucks.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to get my "A through J" box of cds done before next Saturday! Can't wait for Canada!

Bridget

Hiking pics

It's the long Dragonboat Festival weekend! And stinking hot! Yesterday we went to Dakeng and Shinshe for hiking. It has just finished raining so it was pretty clear and there were lots of butterflies and bugs around which seemed to have just hatched. Here's a few photos. From my new camera! Ahhh, new toys....







We went for supper at this mountain top restaurant in Shinshe and got to watch the sunset in it's opening act.

A Gloomy Day in Taichung

It's full on rainy season now and today was one of the first pauses in the downfall. Olivier and I went out and walked around for about 3 hours. I played with my new camera a lot. Here's a few shots. We walked around one of the many canals downtown, took some pretty pictures of balloons and pinwheels and saw some scary razor wire.

A swank dinner and a new Camera

Yes, I have finally got on my lazy arse, bit the bullet and bought a new camera! It's another Canon, just like my old one. I kept looking at cameras and thinking, "oh, this one's not as ice as my old one, sniff."

On Thursday, Bih Hua took a bunch of us out to supper at a fancy French restaurant on the 46th floor of a building downtown. Here's me trying to be artsy with my new toy.

I am a whiny bitch.

Oh dear, my poor neglected blog. Today is June 1st and I'm looking at the 3 wee little posts I did for May, and they were all Utube thingys. For shame. Although those Codco sketches rock - if anyone knows where I get find more, let me know!

What can I say? Facebook and work have eaten my life. I love Taiwan, but at the moment I am burnt the frig out. I haven't been home for about a year and half and I cannot, cannot wait to see everyone. I can't wait for the long summer nights and fresh air and Canadian beer! I had these constant fantasies of Cadbury's Cream Eggs for a while and was cursing myself for not bribing people at home to send me some or at least put some in the freezer for me. I have been making lists of things to buy, people to see, places to go, things to eat, music to absorb, movies to watch (Trailer Park Boys will be one of the first) and good haircuts and Shoppers Drug Mart and MooMoo's Ice Cream. Yes, I am excited about going to Shoppers Drug Mart. I'm not ashamed!

On to more complaining; last year, it rained for 3 weeks straight. This year, the rainy season has been replaced with this kind of thick, stagnant, humidity soup that just hangs everywhere and makes your feel like your are coated with a thin layer of hot syrup. It like, totally ruins your hair. The kindergarten students run around for their 20 minutes of outside play and they lose 3 pounds....wait....I should try that....

Anyhoo, it's Friday and my boyfriend is cooking me dinner and we're going to drink some imported beer from Thailand. Life is still good.

Bridget

Lucky Margarine

I think this is one of my favourite Codco sketches ever. I forgot about the glass eye bit! Enjoy.

Friday Night Girls on Metrobus

TGIF

Taiwan Drift

A coworker showed me this at work yesterday. I'm not sure how I feel about the Basement Jaxx soundtrack that goes along with it or the number thing, but it's a good example of the scooter chaos in Taiwan. Enjoy! I do this every day!

Gosh, I'm a wee bit tired.

Ugh blah ick. Tomorrow I will have been working 11 hour days at work for 2 weeks straight. Every morning I've been subbing for kindergarten and those kids wipe the floor with my arse. And there's this one kid who seems like a definite ADD case. Either that or his parents let him wash down his fruit loops with a hot, steaming cup of liquid gluclose everyday.




We also have the Annual Class Presentations this week (ACPs). I was thinking, "hey, I'm the head teacher, I don't have to do an ACP, this will be great! I'll escape all that pressure..." How silly of me. I've been asked repeatedly for the past 4 weeks about the ACPs and how they're coming along and that I should make sure they're really good and what are the teachers doing and oh my God, I hope the parents can hear the friggin' kids speak and make sure they don't shag up their words and say things like "my home have a computer" oh dear Jesus no.



But on Friday there will be the last ACP and only one day left of subbing and then I can go back to my normal routine where I have time to go for a run and not eat take out everyday! And make phone calls! Whoo-hoo!



And soon (June?) I will have a new camera and upload my own pics for the purpose of making my writing more interesting, instead of stealiing them from the internet.

Bridget

The Name Game

This didn't work too well with me as my middle name is my grandmother's name, so lots of Catherines...also I didn't grow up on a street 'cause Highlands is just one big, long road with ninety something people living close by it.... I like my spy name and porn star name though.



1. YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name):
Catherine Daie

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/mother on your dad's side and your favourite candy):
Catherine Twizzler

3. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name):
Bcan

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, and city you were born in)
Catherine Highlands

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, last three letters of mother's maiden name, first three letters of your pet's name)
Canownmor

7. JEDI NAME (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards):
Enirehtac nwoekcm

8. PORN STAR NAME (first pet's name, the street you grew up on):
Poppet Highlands

9. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favourite colour and the automobile your parents drive)

I can't remember what kind of car mom has now - a Corsica? Anyway, I like the one we had in high school....
The Green Beretta

10. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate)
Andrew Sweet Potato French Fries (I saw "A Scanner Darkly")

goin's on....

Busy, busy, busy! Tomorrow I start the first day of 2 1/2 weeks of subbing for a kindergarten class, the teachers at my school have their annual class performances starting in about 10 days and we're trying to organize the new school year, which will start in July. I also just started taking lessons with a private Chinese tutor and a yoga class. So haven't been pausing much lately....in fact, I'm so tired at the moment that the thought of going to sleep gives me a little tingle in my belly. It's pretty bad when closing your eyes and having a little nap is a secret thrill.

My Chinese tutor had a laugh at my Chinese name, which is printed on my ARC (Alien Resident Card. I'm an alien! I always knew it was true). When you're a foreigner and you move to Taiwan, you get a Chinese name which is basically a phonetic translation of your name into Mandarin. For the past 3 1/2 years, I've thought my name (which kind of goes "Boo Jee Er") meant "fresh clean cloth." I was told it was a very pretty name, like pure linen or something. But really, it means a cloth that you clean something with. So I really am just a j-cloth. Sigh.

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th! Oooooooo! Good luck! I hope the little kindys are nice to me.

Bridget

Holy crap, it's April.....

And the first week of April is almost over! Damn. I am expecting this month to be pretty nuts, I'm subbing for kindergarten for about 2 1/2 weeks, the elementary teachers all have their class performances at the end of the month, I just started classes with a new Chinese Tutor and I'm now taking yoga once a week.

This weekend is a four day one, like a lot of you crowd have at home, but it's not because of Easter, it's due to Tomb Sweeping Day, which was yesterday. And although this weekend is extra long, we have to make up the Friday day off by working next Saturday. It's because of the Lunar calendar, Tomb Sweeping Day lands on the Thursday and they give us the Friday "off" so you get a long weekend, but then that day has to get made up....anyway, it's a new policy the Taiwanese government and workaholic society have come up with! We get another one like this in June for Dragon Boat Festival.

My poor blog, I feel like I've been neglecting it since I recently became sucked into facepage.com. Poor bloggy.

Still no new camera yet, but I might bite the bullet next week! More later.

Bridget

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

What I'm listening to and watching and stuff

I just got me a whole bunch of new music from Olivier and I can't stop listening to Indochine. They've from France and have been around since 1981. They sound a bit like Joy Division and The Cure. And I understand every 4th or 5th word or so.

Blockbuster has finally got the second season of Desperate Housewives and I watched the first 4 episodes on Sunday. I love Edie, she's such a ho.

I just finished reading "Inconceivable" by Ben Elton which was left over from my fluffy vacation reading. Apparently they made a movie out of it called "Maybe Baby" or something. Anyway. It was ok. I hate it when book critics rage about a novel being "uproariously funny!!! Laugh out loud hilarious!!" It sets the bar too high. But I guess "clever and mildly amusing" doesn't sell paperbacks.

I saw "Dream Girls" a couple of weeks ago and it's worth seeing for Eddie Murphy. I also recently saw pirated versions of "The Pursuit of Happiness" and "The Departed". Sometimes I can't believe how easy it is to see movies now. I remember when driving into Stephenville to watch "Splash!" was one of the highlights of the year.

Besides that, I'm looking for a new Chinese Tutor as mine bailed because she's teaching at a university and is too busy for little ol' me. We have a 4 day weekend April 4th - 8th and I'm trying to figure out what to do.

Hopefully I will get a new camera soon and have photos to post once again.

Bridget

My First Bra....

....bought in Taiwan that is. I finally summoned up my patience and ventured out to find a bra that would fit me here in tiny person land. I have been living here for almost 4 years and have not even bothered trying to see if they have my size, besides a quick glance here and there in a mall and never finding anything bigger than a b-cup. Or anything that is not padded. But I just wanted a new one. Something pretty.... So I went to The Easy Shop. Yes, that's its name. It's a very popular lingerie chain here in Taiwan.



According to Easy Shop standards, I am a size E. I cannot believe it. E for "enormous, compared to our standards! Ha!" Or E for "English Teacher boobs."

In the dressing rooms, there are little buzzers you can press to summon the salesladies. I didn't press it, but the salesgirl came in anyway and showed me how I could make the bra fit better by putting her hand inside the bra (from the side, under my armpit) and shoving my boob and any excess flesh into the cup. "See? Fit much better."

Oh well, I guess it's better than ordering online.

Bridget

More tunnel pics

Here's a few more shots of the tunnels.


Here's Olivier going to explore. I was scared I would get stuck so I didn't go.

Tourists underground.


Guns and prices.

My blog will look stupid temporarily because Blogspot are a bunch of tools.

I'm starting to get really annoyed with blogspot. First the whole "we're going Beta!" and forcing me to change the email address I sign in with. Then for awhile everytime I signed in from home it would all appear in Chinese so I had to dick around with that. Now, all I wanted to do was to change one little thing on my template and then it forces me to upgrade to the NEW template changer thingy (giving me no other option) and then fucks up everything. The headers are gone from my links. Where's my goddamn Picasa web albums? Now I have to redo the whole bastardly thing again.

I know it's not a big deal, but you know, it's like when you mop the floor and then someone walks across it with muddy shoes. It only takes a second to sweep it up, but you'd think they'd be more careful. Why do the internets try to constantly fix things that aren't broken? And it's late and I'm tired and I don't want to be on my computer anymore. Grrrrrrr......

tired and annoyed,

Bridget

Cu Chi Tunnels, post 1

Here's some more pictures from the Viet Nam trip.

The Cu Chi Tunnels were an elaborate system of tunnels built outside of Saigon and took some 25 years to build, initially started by the Viet Minh. The soil in the Cu Chi area is red earth and was ideal for creating tunnels during the war against the French. The VC took over the old tunnels, made new extensions and created this extremely organized network for basing attacks.

If you ever go to Saigon, definitely go on the Cu Chi tour. Our tour guide was this crazy guy who worked as an information officer for the Americans and after the war he was thrown in jail for 4 years. He was very outspoken and interesting. We have a couple of short films of him talking, I'll try to upload them here later (when I figure out how to do that!)

Another thing about the Cu Chi tour is that if you want, you can pay a dollar (US) a bullet and go fire off Russian AK-47s, 30-60 machine guns and many, many other guns from the war in the firing range. So while you're walking around the jungle looking at the tunnels you can hear gunfire off in the distance.

Check out the "klipping armpit" trap and then the kind of childlike illusration of such traps in use! Eeesh.





Here's Olivier in the destroyed American tank.