Itabuna

Money, money, money...

 When I was about 5 years old, I had a little piggy bank, courtesy of the local Sparkasse where I had opened my first savings account. I don't remember having a fixed allowance, but every week my mom would put some spare change into my piggy bank until it was almost bursting. And when I discovered the new book about the little rabbit Felix and the letters he writes to his friend Sophie and no, I could never EVER wait until my birthday to have it my birthday won't be until in, like, FOREVER, I had to pay for it myself. I sat on the counter-top as the bookstore attendant patiently counted my 5 and 10 and 50 cent pieces and guarded my new book like a treasure. It was worth a fortune because I had bought it with my money!
In second grade, I spent my allowance of then 1$ per week on a Pocahontas VHS. Disaster struck when I saw the same movie at Longs Drugs for 15$, rather than the 17$ I had bought it for. 2 whole weeks of allowance, of spending nothing, of practically living off stale bread and water...because I had already opened the plastic wrapping of the 17$ VHS, my mother was forced to buy another one for 15$ at Longs Drugs, remove the price tag, and return it to the store I had originally bought it in, earning me back my 2$. Ah, the joys of having children...(and teaching them valuable life lessons, instead of giving them 2$ and telling them to shut up. Thanks, Mom!)
As I grew older, I spent my money on Pokemon cards, books, jewelry, make-up, clothes, and, of late, traveling and eating out. With the annual increase of my allowance, my perception of "expensive" and "cheap", of "bargain" and "overpriced" changed, always depending, however, on the question "How long would it take me to save up this amount of money?". So if, say, I'm in Brazil, and some acquaintance informs me about a super cool, open bar party in a beautiful beach location, with only beautiful people (another cultural peculiarity that I won't elaborate here), for only 150€, I quickly stop to weigh the potential for life altering experiences on those three days against the time I need to invest to save, to earn this amount. The thought process is quite independent of the amount of money that I actually have in my account and typically ends with an "It seems expensive...". To me and my cultural heritage, the decision is made here, with a change in opinion probable only if I were to find out I have just won the lottery. 
The average Brazilian's response to this decision, however, is: "But you can split it up into up to 4 installments on your credit card!"

During my exchange to Brazil, I did notice the omnipresence of credit cards and advertisements: Up to 6 installments, no interest. (a pair of shoes). As my friends grew older and started acquiring credit cards of their own (small as their credit limit may be), jobs of their own, lives of their own, the subject became that much more engaging to me. In the interest of accuracy I need to distinguish between two related questions that just keep returning.

• "What is the cause of my very different perception concerning the necessity to "divide" purchases on the credit card?" To me, acceptable items include apartments, houses, cars, plasma TV screens. Sex-and-the-City-esque items? Maybe. To many people I have met, acceptable items include (aside from the aforementioned, which, of course, are also included): shoes, make up, clothing, airplane tickets. In part, these differences must be based on different levels of monetary wealth between Germany and Brazil and the Germans' mysterious obsession with saving money. Wherever that comes from. However, I can't shake the feeling that there's more to this question, and explanations are welcome.

• "Are these superficial observations, especially the notion that something previously deemed too expensive might be worth buying if divided into installments, the manifestation of a whole different cultural frame of reference concerning material wealth?" A frame of reference that, even after 4 years of contact to Brazilian culture, still confounds and astonishes me? I try not to over-analyze, I'm aware that some of these observations have simple explanations like miscommunication between me and the various Brazilians I talk to, or my erroneous attribution of simple character traits and human psychology to some kind of cultural mumbo-jumbo. Still, I'm onto something! I'll understand perfectly one day, and if not, it won't be for lack of trying. 

 So...if any of you ever happen to travel to Brazil...keep your eyes open, and report. Please :)

Money!

15 down...

...21 to go.

2 weeks in Brazil so far, and it seems like so much more, and so much less. Indra and I have travelled to Campina Grande, Joao Pessoa, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Itabuna, and are heading out for a weekend in Itacaré later today. I've conveniently marked the aforementioned places on the map, because even I wouldn't have been able to find them before going there. (I'm not trying to imply that I'm a Geography-stud, cause I most certainly am not, but I would expect myself to know some things after spending a year here). Anyways, the places were all charming and I would have liked to spend some more time, getting to know more touristic spots, eating some more local food...although I must confess that I am only experimenting with very limited amounts of food because Indra and I are trying to get into better biquini shape for the beaches of Itacaré, Ilheus and Salvador. And since everything here seems to be prepared with unlimited amounts of fat or sugar (sometimes both), we make a point of not eating just anything that crosses our path.

Anyways, back to the touristy stuff: In Campina Grande we stayed at the house of Indra's aunt, going out with Indra's cousins at night. As I mentioned before, we witnessed the (supposedly) largest Sao Joao of the world, with lots of places for eating, drinking (Caipifruta!!) and dancing. We had fun and met lots of nice people. Our touristic exploration of the city was limited to repeated trips to the shopping and visiting the Crafts Fair (handmade stuff). They can grow cotton in colors other than white!! (brown). :):)

In Campina Grande, we also met my friend Fernanda, who is studying interior design in Joao Pessoa, a trip of about two hours by bus. We decided to visit her for one night and looked out on the sea from the most eastern point of South America.

(Fernanda is tiny)

On the next day, we headed back to Recife. Since our flight to Rio was leaving at 5 in the morning, we decided not to sleep and were lucky enough to be entertained by one of our acquaintances from Campina Grande. Obviously, we arrived in Rio dead on our feet and spent the largest part of the day catching up on some sleep. The next 3 nights were full of nice bars and expensive drinks and some sight seeing by day. We stayed at our friend Ingrid's house and were joined by two other former exchange students to Germany. They're just great and are already making plans to visit the Brazilian Oktoberfest in the south.

Despite our partying, we had time to see some nice spots. Rio de Janeiro ist just beautiful. I wish I could have spent so much more time. A Brazilian I met on the flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon had sugested I get a taste of the real Brazil by driving through one of the favelas, but my friends were apalled by the sugestion (didn't seem like the safest idea to me, either). Some other time, then. The thing is, it's impossible to actually know how the situation in the favelas is, because they are like a different city, a parallel universe a thousand times removed from ours. Things are improving, but there's still a lot to be done.
Pictures!

Flatrate

Realization of the day: I have never been to an All-You-Can-Drink party (Flatrate Saufen) in Germany. I guess I missed out on their peak period in Germany when I was an exchange student in Brazil. Later, justly as I returned with slightly less common sense than before, they became illegal. Why did they become illegal? Public discussions soared after a 16 year old student from Berlin fell into a coma and died, having drunk about 50 tequila shots at a Flatrate party in April of 2007. My chance to experience this marvellous business model firsthand however was not lost, in fact, the opportunity arose yesterday. The lesson learned, as often, is exactly what Albert Einstein put so well a long long time ago: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." I couldn't help but think that if I were a creepy mid-thirties lech, desperate to get some, I would most certainly make it a weekly ritual to visit a Flatrate party near my appartment, a motel, or some sufficiently dark and deserted alleyways. I would enter around midnight and strategically position myself between the dancefloor and the restrooms. With the eye of an expert, perfected by trial and error, I would make out women, or girls, rather, of ages between 15 and 22 who are determined to drink their moneys worth/the worth of their weight in gold, and are increasingly in need of some kind of support to stand up while dancing. Ideally, they would be accompanied by an equally intoxicated group of careless friends. Patience is a hunter's virtue and after 1 or 2 hours one of these girls will certainly stumble to the bathroom and emerge 15 minutes later with the air of one who has just thrown up all over a restroom stall. Quick as a panther, I would engage her in conversation and, if she doesn't object too much, lead her to a quiet place where we could have some fun. The occasional loner watching us from the sidelines tonight made me suspect that I may not be the first person to develop this idea, and certainly not the last.
Seriously now? The party wasn't bad at all. The drinks were at least decent, the DJ was good and there was enough space for dancing. Also, especially important in Brazil and surprising to me, considering the location: we were able to walk around in peace, without anyone touching our hands, our waist, our hair, calling to us, invading our private space. I was wearing my new red high heels and got tired of dancing relatively quickly, but other than that, it was perfect. Sadly, around 1 o'clock in the morning...
Having spent most of our time on the dancefloor, relatively oblivious to everything happening around us, Indra and I went outside for a breath of fresh air and remarked on the inebriated men smoking on the street, swaying slightly. After some of them tried to talk to us, we decided to flee back to the inside of the club. I'm not sure whether the situation deteriorated strongly in the short period we spent outside or whether it was only my perspective that changed, but the area around the bar was the biggest puke-fest I have ever seen. We found the restroom packed with a group of girls, trying to get their friend to get off the floor, out of her own vomit, the sink clogged with you-know-what. The style of music at the moment wasn't 100% up our alley so we decided to relax, sitting at a table with our drinks. Sadly, Almost-Passed-Out-Girl and her friends managed to leave the bathroom and occupy the table next to ours, giving us the opportunity to witness all the sliding-off-the-chair, "talk to me, talk to me!", throwing-up-previously-force-fed-water drama. Guess who thought she had overcome that weird tic of feeling incredibly nervous and sick to her stomach every time she saw an intoxicated person, but didn't? Exactly. I entered into a brief period of panic when I realized that my two forms of escape i) going outside, ii) locking myself into a bathroom stall, were full of people throwing up, but I managed to center myself and return to the dance floor. We had some more fun in spite of everything, but the last and lasting impression of the All-You-Can-Drink party was when we stepped outside to catch a cab and found a guy sleeping on the sidewalk in a suspicious wet puddle and another one vomiting all over himself while his friends held his head, but refused to call an ambulance. He got up, and fell, just as we got into the cab. My friends swear they heard to sound of skull hitting concrete, his buddies were just laughing.

Brazil, here I come!

Woow! New post!!
So, big news: on Thursday, June 24th, 6:05 AM, I will be at Frankfurt airport, rolling away from the gate, on my way to BRAZIL!
I have been looking forward to this holiday since the second I boarded the plane taking me back "home" in Ilhéus, 7th of July, 2007. Somehow, between family holidays, schoolwork and other social responsibilities I was never able to make enough time for it...until now. I can't describe how much I am looking forward to my Brazilian friends and family, Brazilian food, music and lifestyle. When I read the diary entries I made during my year as an exchange student and the months after my return, I sometimes manage to catch a glimpse of that incredible longing I felt, the sense of being caught between two worlds. Today, I believe that this is a normal process that every exchange student, or even every teenager, experiences at some point  in an attempt to create the perception of a stable identity, an unvarying "self" despite conflicting role expectations and huge uncertainties for the future. Today, I feel whole even though I only have some of the people and things I love close by, because that's the way I chose it for myself. Nonetheless, going to Brazil is more than just a vacation to me, more than just visiting some friends. I expect to learn a lot during the next 5 weeks, about Brazilian and German culture, about things that happened during my exchange and things that happened afterwards, about who I was then and, by contrast, who I am now.
Of course, all that learning needs to be supplemented by some sight seeing!!

My journey starts on the east tip of Brazil, in Recife. I will arrive there almost at the same time as my sister Indra. We will probably spend the day at some relatives house before we leave for the close-by city Campina Grande where we will celebrate 'the largest St. John's holiday in the world'. I might meet up with another friend who is living in Joao Pessoa to visit her house for a day, but since we only have very little time up in the north, I can't be sure of anything.

After a couple of days we will pack our bags again and fly from Recife to Rio de Janeiro, a city which, believe it or not, I barely caught a glimpse of through the windows of a driving traveling bus the first time around. This time, I plan to take in the whole package, visiting all the must-see spots and the like. Indra and I will be staying in the house of a Brazilian friend who did an exchange to Germany in the same year as Indra, also through YFU. This lead to the three of us + Mayra, a YFU exchange student from Ecuador, spending a week partying in Calella in the spring of 2009, I hope we'll be able to relive this time.
On July 4th we'll be leaving for Ilhéus since Indra needs to go back to work teaching German at a language school in Itabuna. That means I'll have the opportunity to get some sleep, freshen up, and visit whoever of my old friends is still living in the area. I'm planning, of course, to spend at least five days in Salvador as well, and Indra has been planning for us to go to Porto Seguro on some weekend. But however those things work out, I'll be happy to just spend time in Brazil, living life at a different pace, experiencing the warmth and hospitality that never fails to amaze me anytime I spend time with Brazilian people.
I suppose that I won't be taking my notebook so I won't have as much access to the internet as I normally do, but I'll certainly update any great/interesting experiences.

In other news: I took some photos with Hannah for a project at her school, something about capturing 'happiness' in a photograph. We were lucky enough to have great weather and I had a lot of fun with her. I love being a big sister.

Well, well, well...

So, I haven't posted in quite a while. I don't know why and I want to apologize sincerely. I have switched my writing language to English because frankly, I can't remember why I started off writing in German in the first place. This blog is about traveling, after all, and when traveling, English is usually the language of choice, even though in some countries it may be necessary to replace it with pointing and smiling and enthusiastic hand gestures. Anyways, I also think that practicing my English writing skills is far more important than practicing my German writing skills, simply because there is more room for improvement.

Before I really reactivate this blog, I guess I should provide a quick overview over the past 3 months of not blogging.

Highlights:

• My wonderful friend Helena from Paderborn visited me in Taiwan for about 3 weeks in January/February. I introduced her to as many of my Taiwanese friends as possible and we ate a lot. (I will not disclose the exact amount of weight she told me she gained during her stay but let me tell you that I was amazed). We visited friends of hers in 台中 (TaiZhong) and spent 5 very short nights in Thailand. We also spent a fortune on sticky picture photo booths. Money well spent.

 (Taizhong)

 langer liegender Buddha (Bangkok)

yeah, the Thai people have pretty things.

q.e.d.

They also loooove taking pictures. Especially if they're weird men that smell of alcohol.

Thai clothes...and yes, we lived that close to the beach.

One of the many times Helena accidentally hit her head on that wooden board.

• We were lucky enough (or well-planned enough) to be in Taiwan during Chinese New Year, we didn't actually see those dragon parades or big fireworks that are so stereotypical, but we go to spend some quality time with my host family, which I really enjoyed, ate a lot of food and even stayed at a happy little activity farm on speed for a night with hundreds of relatives. I am kidding about the number of relatives, not, however, about the speed. The whole 24 hours or so we spent on the farm were amazing in 2 ways:
• it was a lot of fun. We built a paper lantern and painted it with wishes for the new year. We ate lots of food. We saw fish being caught over and over again. We ate delicious fruits. We spent time with wonderful people. We fed pigs and goats and turkeys and saw a frog being eaten. We did lots of great stuff.
• HOLY SHIT I have never done so much stuff in so little time in my entire fing life, how was this even possible?!?!?!? OMG...it amazes me just thinking about it, even a month later. Every second of the day was filled with activities, largely the kind of activity that I've experienced in the US but most adults in Germany wouldn't be caught dead doing, or only for the sake of the kids: building paper lanterns, making flutes out of bamboo, creating crane statues out of natural materials, painting T-Shirts...helpful employees were swarming about, eager to show participants exactly how to do stuff and make up for the lack of creativity. It was a hardcore, totally artificial back-to-nature experience. I guess you had to be there. It was amazing. Nuff said.

 Birds and food.

• After Helena leaving for Germany, I had about one more week to say goodbye to my Taiwanese host family and friends. I felt very sad about this, but also very happy because it made me realize one more time how awesome the past 6 months had been and how lucky I am to have met such lovable, caring, interesting, friendly, beautiful people who have shared their lives with me so generously.
• After some confusion regarding my return flight I arrived in Paderborn on Feb. 22nd. (I originally though I was leaving 台北 (TaiBei) on the 21st, luckily discovering my mistake about two weeks before departure. On Feb. 20, at check-in, the very diligent clerk suspected some kind of problem with my transfer in HongKong and attended to us for about 30 minutes while me and my host mom made some very stressed out calls to my German mom and the ticket company, only to discover that everything was fine the way it was). I have yet to visit my friends in Aachen, but in the past month I've met with a bunch of relatives, friends and acquaintances and I feel at home again. My new room is decorated, at least a little bit, I got the biggest part of my clothes back from my sister and I don't convert the price of every single edible thing into TWD. Still do it about 40% of the time though. 

 Germany looks empty from up high

'German' food at the Deutsches Haus with my sister's Irish exchange students

• My favorite pastime for the last 5 weeks has been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, hanging out with my sisters and hanging out in front of the computer/some book. Not necessarily in that order. I remember being a teenager (well, a younger teenager) and not being able to understand how my parents could keep from dying of boredom in spite of spending most of their time doing chores or working in front of the computer, and reserving almost all of their 'free' time for quality time with their partner and kids. They would meet with friends only occasionally, or what seemed like 'occasionally' to me, because I needed stimuli from people from outside the family at least once a day, preferably not less than 40% of my waking time, to keep from feeling bored. This has totally changed. I can get a sense of productivity and contentment by staying at home in a slobby sweatshirt, making some spaghetti and finally vacuuming that dusty area behind the computer. Then I take a walk.  

  my relatives are the cutest little things in the universe. It's not a contest but they win, hands down.

•   I like it because it's a lifestyle that revolves less around myself than the previous one. It is also    almost completely free of stress and, I like to think, very healthy. However, it cannot go on like this forever unless I decide that my ultimate goal is to live in my parents' basement at 37, playing Pokemon and chatting with cat lovers I met over the Internet. And to have a soggy gray thing where my brain used to be. So I've enrolled at the University of Bielefeld to start studying for a Bachelor in Maths after April 12th. It's about 1 1/2 hours of commute by train and I don't plan on getting an apartment there before fall, so let's hope I can manage to get up in the mornings! 

• I'm making plans to spend about one month in Brazil in the summer, probably in July and the beginning of August. I'll miss lots of class, but I'm really looking forwards to seeing some of my friends for the first time in 3 years and feeling that Brazilian vibe...yay!

I doubt anyone is still checking this page, but I'll try to keep it up anyways, especially since I've been toying with the idea of printing out my posts in some form to supplement my diary entries. And if anyone else reads this...well, that's great, too :)

I almost forgot the most important and lasting thing, though:

I got my nails done

Zuerst wollte ich nur ein paar Fotos posten..

Die letzte Zeit in Taiwan in Bildern...

...I was going to just post some pictures, but then I realized that I really want to put them in some context so I decided to just post these 3 because they have absolutely no context whatsoever.

My undying love for "It's not a lifestyle choice, Bella. I was born this way! I can't help it!" becomes apparent when I try to brush his teeth on the Valentine's Day poster.

On my classmate Adrien-from-France's birthday I made him some of those super great American brownies from Costco. God, I can't even allow myself to think of those...we did find out, however, that in Europe (not for me personally, but when you look at the big picture in Germany..) people tend to pay for themselves on their birthdays or even treat others (Adrien brought us croissants). My classmates stated that this is not the case in Japan or many parts of South America. I don't remember about Indonesia.

Sadly, I have not been able to convince anyone of the merits of my favorite Taiwanese Cocktails/Shots/Whatever. The exciting part about this one is breathing in the fumes of the burning alcohol which the bartender caught in the overturned glass earlier. The first time I did it, I felt really scared because, well, it hurts. I still can't do it without stopping even though I now know that I won't suffocate at all.

Well, that's it, photos with context in the next post!

Frohe Weihnachten, frohes neues Jahr!

Froehliche Weihnachten!

Zu einem Weihnachtsblog bin ich gar nicht gekommen (mangels freier, oder wenigstens Hausaufgabenfreier Tage, grummel), also nur so viel: Heiligabend war ich in der argentinischen Show "Fuerza Bruta"

(Fotos sind aus google, meine sind nicht so toll ;))

 

Ich hatte mir schon "Mamma Mia" und "Die Fabelhafte Welt der Amelie" ausgeliehen, um den Abend in angemessen besinnlicher (depressiver) Stimmung zu begehen als meine Weihnachtserfahrung komplett umgekrempelt wurde: ein netter australischer Tickettyp hat mir zwei Freikarten gegeben! "Merry Christmas!" :) Der Abend war natuerlich gerettet, ich hab Grace angerufen, die, ein Muster an Spontanitaet, direkt in die Stadt gekommen ist, und hab super viel Spass gehabt!

Am 25. habe ich nichts gross gemacht, abends war Skypen mit der Familie angesagt und danach auf die BCDog christmas Party, mein Outfit fuer den Abend koennt ihr oben ja schon sehen ^^. Mittelmaessig spontan war ich nach 12 noch mit Lini, Kiki und Clarence in einem club, der an dem Abend Eroeffnung hatte. Allerdings haben wir nicht besonders lange durchgehalten, gegen halb 4 war ich dann zuhause.Der Rest vom Wochenende war wohl recht entspannt, ich kann mich so spontan an nichts erinnern.

Frohes neues Jahr!

Der 01.01. ist Gott sei dank sogar hier ein Feiertag, so dass wir am Donnerstag entspannt feiern konnten. Alle Welt schart sich in der Silvesternacht um den Taipei 101, schon Nachmittags um 5 war die Innenstadt mega voll, ich war noch einkaufen und musste auf dem Rueckweg 3 MRTs vorbeifahren lassen, weil sie einfach voll waren. Wer hat noch erzaehlt, dass sie die Leute in Japan buchstaeblich in die Metros reinschieben? :D:D Ganz so wars noch nicht, aber...

Wir waren also am Abend zuerst Steak essen in einem American-Style Restaurant mit Salat Buffet, ich habe mich sehr positiv an Fresh Choice erinnert gefuehlt, besonders, als ich die Brownies, die Schokoladensauce und das Soft-Eis gesehen habe....seufz...danach in die Naehe des Taipei101 gewandert und das Feuerwerk
 bestaunt, wir haben uns alle etwas gewundert, was "TAIWAN UP" heissen soll, ich habe mich noch nicht getraut, einen Taiwaer dazu zu befragen. Danach musste ich dann unbedingt aufs Klo, bin also zu KFC rein, wo die Schlange fuer die Frauentoilette bis zum Tresen stand, im Gegensatz zur Maennertoilette, wo es ueberhaupt keine gab. Manche Sachen sind auf der ganzen Welt gleich. 

Einen Nachtrag habe ich noch zur Taiwanesischen Einstellung zu Gesundheit: Wer mich kennt, weiss vielleicht, dass ich oefter Probleme habe mit kleinen Entzuendungen am Auge. Ich dachte ne Zeit lang, das laege an den Kontaktlinsen, jetzt hab ichs aber wieder, und ich hatte die Kontaktlinsen vorher ne Woche oder so nicht getragen, das kanns also nicht sein. Naja, es geht also partout nicht weg und sieht bloed aus, ein Gerstenkorn oder so halt. Als Grace das Mittwochabend gesehen hat haben wir spontan beschlossen, noch in der Notaufnahme im Krankenhaus vorbeizufahren, schliesslich ist es am Auge, und dann ist der 1. ein Feiertag...

Normalerweise kriege ich ne Augensalbe fuer dieses Problem, bei der ich mangels Wirksamkeit manchmal den Eindruck habe, es handelt sich um einen (ziemlich nervigen) Placebo. In diesem Fall bin ich nach 1 1/2 Stunden allerdings mit 4(!) Medikamenten nach Hause gekommen, unter anderem Antibiotika und Schmerzmittel(?!). Ich sollte auch gleich heute Morgen (Samstag) nochmal wiederkommen, um es mir aufschneiden zu lassen, diese Aerztin meinte dann allerdings, es wuerde schon von alleine weggehen und ich solle doch besser nur noch die Augensalbe benutzen.

:D:D:D

Jetzt mach ich mal nen Mittagsschlaf, will heute Abend noch weg!

hab euch lieb! :**

Tainan

Morgen ist Weihnachten!!

Ich vermisse Deutschland...

Aber da kann man nichts machen.

Habe deep fried frog gegessen!

Ausserdem hatten wir neulich ein Haagen Dazs Schokofondue <3

koestlich...

Dass ich neulich eine Erkaeltung hatte, habe ich ja erzaehlt, einen Tag musste ich dann im Unterricht sogar eine Maske tragen, damit ich moeglichst keinen anstecke. Gibts das in Deutschland auch? Kann mich nicht erinnern, ueberhaupt mal jemanden mit ner Maske gesehen zu haben, hier gibt es das andauernd..

So, und jetzt muss ich euch noch von meinem Wochenende in Tainan erzaehlen! Also, erstmal wo Tainan ist....Nan heisst Sueden, im Gegensatz zu Bei, was Norden heisst...TaiBei, TaiNan, so ungefaehr koennt ihr es euch schon denken, ne? :)

TaiNan war der Militaerstuetzpunkt der Hollaender, bevor sie 1662 von Koxinga vertrieben wurden. Koxinga war ein Unterstuetzer der Ming-Dynastie, als diese zusammenbrach floh er nach Taiwan mit dem Hintergedanken von hier aus eine Militaeroffensive gegen die neue Qing Dynastie zu starten. Die Qing hat er nicht besiegt, aber ja, die Hollaender schon. Tourist Attractions in TaiNan sind deshalb vor allem die alten Forts und ausserdem 1001 Tempel, in denen unendlich viele verschiedene Gottheiten angebetet werden. Durch BoBui kann man sich in Tempeln die Zukunft vorhersagen lassen, dabei muss man dem Gott Respekt und Gaben bringen und kann dann mithilfe einer "Lottery" und zwei Stuecken Holz, die man auf den Boden fallen laesst die Antworten auf alle Fragen finden. Mein BoBui hat mir verkuendet, dass ich ein Auslaender bin und in naechster Zeit am besten nicht zu weit von Zuhause weggehe. Ist allerdings nicht allzu beeindruckend, denn ganz zu Anfang musste ich mich dem Gott mental vorstellen und dabei habe ich schon erwaehnt, dass ich aus Deutschland komme ;)

Ich stelle einfach mal ein paar Fotos rein :)

Das hier ist im Tempel des Gottes der Schueler und Lernenden, oder so...auf die Holzplaettchen kann man (idealerweise gegen eine angemessene Spende) schreiben, welchen Test man an welchem Datum mit welcher Note bestehen muss und dann auf goettliche Unterstuetzung hoffen.

Das fand ich besonders suess, ein kleines Kind anscheinend, das noch keine chinesischen Schriftzeichen schreiben kann und stattdessen die Lautschrift benutzt. Er moechte glaube ich gern 100 im naechsten Test schreiben :)

Der Fortschritt ist nicht aufzuhalten: wer keine Zeit hat, selbst in den Tempel zu kommen, kann sich telefonisch (~ 12 cent die Minute) die Zukunft vorhersagen lassen! :D

Tainan hat grosse Nightmarkets mit vielen leckeren Snacks.  Zum ersten Mal habe ich, statt nur zu essen, die verschiedenen Spiele ausprobiert. In Taiwan gibt es ueberall, wirklich ueberall (zB bei dieser einen Buddha Statur) Vergnuegunsmaschinen und Spiele und so. Also, mir fehlt das richtige Wort, halt so in die Richtung von nem Jahrmarkt, mit Luftballons zerschiessen und Basketbaelle werfen und hier im Bild quasi chinesisches Bingo. Diesen Kram gibt es auch schon fuer die ganz kleinen, ich hab schon oefter 4jaehrige mit Hilfe ihrer Eltern an winzigen Pinballmaschinen spielen sehen. Ich hab auch was gewonnen....

....eine Hello Kitty Lampe!!!! :):):):)

ein weiteres Erfolgserlebnis ist, dass ich mich endlich getraut habe, die Huehnerfuesse zu probieren!!! Wie erwartet schmecken sie allerdings nicht gut, naja, sie waren auch schon kalt...trotzdem, wieso das jemand gerne isst...ist halt nur Haut, und die muss man richtig abkratzen...und Knorpel kann ich so gar nicht essen, und dann knacken die Zehen wenn man sie biegt und ach...

Es war beeindruckend fuer mich, wie gut besucht die diversen Tempel waren, und mit welcher Hingabe gebetet wurde, davon koennen sich die europaeischen Kirchen eine Scheibe abschneiden. Achja: Chris' Haus ist direkt neben einem Tempel und jeden Morgen, besonders am Wochenende, ab ca. 8 Uhr werden diverse Riten und Feierlichkeiten durchgefuehrt, so dass ich einmal getraeumt habe, ich waere in einem Krieg und als ich aufwachte feststellen musste, dass die Kanonenschuesse und Bombeneinschlaege laute Trommeln waren und das Geschrei penetrantes Singen. Da weiss man den guten alten Kirchturm (oder sogar Muezzin) doch gleich zu schaetzen!

Das wars erstmal, tut mir Leid, dass ich die Fotos nicht gedreht habe, der Computer macht im Moment nicht, was ich will. Ich sollte dringend meine Daten backupen (oder sagt man in diesem Fall upbacken? ;))

<3

so, und nun zu guter Letzt, und eigentlich am wichtigsten:



Danke, meine Schaetze!

hab mich super duper ueber dieses tolle Geschenk und eure Briefe gefreut und bin durch die Wohnung getanzt! Hab es auch gleich angezogen (mit noch nem 2. T-Shirt drunter ^^) und die Taiwanesen haben sich auch alle sehr gefreut und geschmeichelt gefuehlt und haben alle gleich eure Fotos gezeigt bekommen :):)

Hab euch lieb!!!

 

wollte euch eigentlich schon Freitag (glaube ich) bei schuelervz danke schreiben, aber dann wollte ich abschicken und dann war es wieder mal schon ausgeloggt, das Teil nervt mich echt =.= also jetzt hier.

Hab euch lieb und schreib euch nen Brief!!! :*****