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I'm making another exception to my rule about not posting photos that are directly related to my fieldwork, mostly because I like this one. The four individuals onstage here are all amateur performers of 說唱 (shuochang, literally "speaking-singing"), a kind of musical narrative performance. They are students of a very famous blind storyteller named Yang, who sat in the front row to provide encouragement for her pupils. A very nice man who noticed me and two of my friends lurking in the back area took me aside to explain that the story (performed in Taiwanese, which I don't understand) was about a man who traveled from mainland China to Taiwan before the Japanese colonial period, leaving his wife behind. He took up with a prostitute in Taiwan, which his wife eventually discovered. Upon hearing the news she was so enraged that she committed suicide to forever haunt her husband as a ghost.
Formosan mountain dogs are beautiful.
Birds in the forest.
I spent the day at 不老部落, a fascinating restaurant/workshop/farm/inn/family home for a group of seven Atayal families in Yilan County. After roasting mushrooms over a fire and meeting our hosts' amazing dogs, we explored the property and marveled at what they've created from immediately available local resources. I particularly loved the light fixture fashioned out of nails (top right)--it was just beautiful.
Although Taipei has a variety of really wonderful supermarkets--I found matzoh ball mix at City Super last week!--they tend to be very expensive. The most economic places to shop, by far, are the city's many open-air markets. I took these photos at the market near Yongchun Station, not far from where I live. I don't know if it's apparent from the pictures, but the fish was incredibly fresh and sparkly-eyed. P.S. Hope you're not sick of my toy camera pictures yet!
Though this is hardly a fabulous photograph, I couldn't resist the urge to post it. There's so much going on...my parents-in-law striking saucy poses, a peace sign, etc. Oh, and a giant fiberglass gingerbread man (who is actually both a character from Shrek and the random mascot for a Taiwanese Mexican restaurant chain called GoodDay) bathing in a hotpot, wearing a tiny towel on his head as though he were enjoying a soak in a Japanese hot spring. Although the gingerbread man is all smiles, I can only imagine that one of his legs (the one submerged in broth) has dissolved. Gruesome.
Some days I think the campus at NTU is absolutely beautiful. It's only if you look closely that you can see that the buildings are perilously close to collapsing.
I'm making another exception to my rule about not posting photos that are directly related to my fieldwork, mostly because I like this one. The four individuals onstage here are all amateur performers of 說唱 (shuochang, literally "speaking-singing"), a kind of musical narrative performance. They are students of a very famous blind storyteller named Yang, who sat in the front row to provide encouragement for her pupils. A very nice man who noticed me and two of my friends lurking in the back area took me aside to explain that the story (performed in Taiwanese, which I don't understand) was about a man who traveled from mainland China to Taiwan before the Japanese colonial period, leaving his wife behind. He took up with a prostitute in Taiwan, which his wife eventually discovered. Upon hearing the news she was so enraged that she committed suicide to forever haunt her husband as a ghost.
