Sunday, April 18, 2010

Taipei here and now

TOday I went on a bike ride in the rain through the back alleys of taipei, but it was sunday so there were many many pedestrains and poeple window shopping, the national sport of the buergoisie taiwan.... i was in a lane in a neighborhood near my apartment, and since today was my first free day in a long time on account of me being sick and desirious of a day of a rest , i decided to stop by a local temple that caught my eye as i was pedaling. i went in and asked the burgher if i can take a look, and he was all smiles that i could speak chinese and insisted on aiding me in using the divination sticks to read my fortune, a rather complex process involving dropping two small peices of wood that look like the curved half a shoe horn, dropping the shoe horns on the ground. First I say my last name, address, and ask a question, and depending on which way the shoe horns are facing when they are dropped, it is a yes/no. If it is yes one proceeds by drawing a long stick with a number inscribed on that refers to the numbered proverb poem of wisdom derived from the Yi Jing, the ancient book of changes. after helping me through this multilayered process, and finding the proverb of my destiny, we discovered that he is illeterate, and couldnt read me my fortune. then another really old woman, about half my height, and half my amount of teeth, proceeded to discourse on my fortune, and she asked me what My question was ("Is my paht of life right or wrong"), and when I told her that, she said the mystic poem reads not too hesitate when mulling over something in my heart, but go straight for it, and dont start many things at once. She continued to lecture me on the proper path of my lfie, and correctly guessed I was a Chinese student and English teacher, and then decided to exhort me on the proper way of going down those paths. She even inquired what my salary was, but at this time she had lost all consideration of my Chinese bieng only half-fluent, and proceeded to speak to me in the thick drawl of Taiwanese Chinese charactestic of an "ama", or grandma..........I then found my opening to conclude the sermon, and proceeded on pedaling down my path in life....

1 comment:

Mr. Dan said...

All these Chinese comments!! Wow, I just stumbled back on your blog after not checking it for months (if not a year!). This is a fantastic entry, inspiring and almost dreamlike...

Keep writing!
Miss you very much,

Daniel