Daan Forest Park in Taipei (Orientation) & Language

These photos were taken at Daan Forest Park near my hotel in Taipei. The first two weeks we had an orientation at the Howard Hotel with Taiwanese teachers. We learned about the structure of schools, lesson planning, culture, language (Ni Hao 'Hello', Xie Xie 'Thank you', Ang Jing! 'Sit Down-Be Quiet', Wo shi laoshir 'I am a teacher'). Chinese is easy in that there are no verb tenses, but it is hard in that there are four tones. So, 'I eat dumplings' becomes 'I eat shit' if you use the wrong tone. Makes you want to go out and practice your Chinese doesn't it? Actually, Taiwanese people are very receptive to foreigners who try to speak their language (unlike some European countries I've visited). And, you can get by with simple English and gestures in a pinch.


I think it's Buddha, but I'm not sure.
There was an old woman walking around
the statue and praying. She gave me
the happiest smile of anyone in the
park that day.
These are wooden sculptures.
They seem very American to me.
Almost like settlers heading out for
the new West.

Some kind of concert in the park.
They were video cameras and
an attractive woman (host) introducing
each song.



The lagoon in the middle of the park.
The park is quite large.

The park and the local market

This is a statue of...well, I'm not sure. It looks like a cherub telling everyone to be quiet. It's on the edge of a small park at the end of my block. The local women do something like Jazzercise on the other end of the park on some evenings. The market is on the other side of this park, and my school is just beyond the market. It's nice to have a five minute walk to my school. This is the market when it is closed. Things get going early and the vendors are mostly closed by the late afternoon and evening. They stay around into the evening on Friday and Saturday.

The market is open in this picture. I had to wait for a few minutes to get a shot without a bunch of cars and scooters in the way. You can buy fruit, vegetables, meat, prepared foods, clothes, shoes, bedding, towels, and all kinds of things at this relatively small market.