I bicycle to work every morning, sometimes the chaos of traffic just gets to me. Usually I can bear it, but today, dodging cars, scooters, buses,taxis and old people on various slow speed motorized vehicles, was just more than I could handle. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, you know people, in a normal civilized…
After losing my adventure-partner-exploration-mentor to a job in Taipei, I have been left in Taichung on my own devices. So I started small, this weekend seeking out two local trails in nearby Guguan. Guguan is a popular destination in central Taiwan in the winter months, primarily for its hot springs and high mountain tea. The…
Since we spent much of our trip planning around typhoons, we had to re-arrange a bit. Originally, we wanted to stay in both Osaka and Kyoto before returning to Tokyo a few days before our flight. We decided that for times sake, it would be better to skip staying in Osaka, and just stay in…
It’s been a little over a week and we’ve already started to begin our sentences with “When we live in Japan…” The more I see of Japan the more I love it. Everything from the architecture to the lifestyle. Every house is in the same style, but with its own uniquely defining features. Every little…
I only realized about a week ago that July was Japans rain season. I was so focused on climbing Fuji before the school holiday and Obon week, that I completely forgot about the weather conditions being a factor. Oops. No big deal, we had rain gear, it’s an easy climb on the most climbed mountain…
This summer I am taking a serious break from the Taiwanese heat and heading north. One month in Japan and one month in my hometown in New York, then hopefully when I return in September the summer weather will be just bearable enough for me to survive until fall climbing season. Since I love Murakami…
Living on a subtropical island such as Taiwan comes with a certain pretense. It can make you soft or it can make you strong. Taiwan is very convenient and that also makes it very comfortable. If you like to be comfortable this is a great place for you, (especially as a foreigner). If you like…
When I taught cram school we used to play a lot of 20 questions. One of the questions my students always used to ask was “Can eat?” Though it is an incomplete statement in English, in Chinese it is widely acceptable for this to be a proper question. So, when my friend set these rock…
Six weeks and counting. I think I am looking forward to the end of the semester more than my students, Especially since I have asked a few classes if anyone had plans for the summer break and about 50% of the responses have been “cram school”. The word “Vacation” must have been incorrectly translated somewhere…
When I ask my students what they do in their free time most of them reply “sleep”. I scoffed at this reply my first few months in Taiwan, thinking they were lazy and unadventurous. Now, I can understand after a rigorous 40 hour (plus cram school) brain-hammering work week all they want to do is…
A Conscious Venture 