now to the philippines!

alas this is the end of our bloggin journey through my three months in taiwan. of course you noticed there are giant gaps of time towards the end. this was because I was so slammed just before the parade and have been busy on holiday ever since and have found myself just unable to catch up. But do not fret! Upon my return to philadelphia in december, I will clean up this poor ending to be more palatable.

But hark! The trip is not over! I still have another month and then some to go. so in honor of an new adventure, a new electronic address:

please follow the this link for more michelle posadas adventures: http://theluckestbird.blogspot.com/

back again: jin san

back again to the jin san hot springs, this time with irit! amy took us at 8:30AM this morning, but we had to find our way home. it was relatively easy, but what too about 45 mins to drive, took us about 4 hours by public transportation. lovely and worth it none-the less.

saying goodbye: shih chen

finally, i'm starting to feel like i'm leaving. funny enough two days before my departure. as I said good bye to the last students who stayed behind. my heart sank a little. i don't know when I will see these people again? i realized that it was coming to an end and I had to say goodbye to these amazing students I love to work with . . . i also have to say goodbye to taiwan too.

first chance at freedom

fulong beach: dan and roque practicing acrobatics


tongman elementary school in ji an: our wonderful hosts in hualein


at the taruko gorge in hualein with ray and minchi (and 5 other pals not pictured)


irit and i at nu san beach in hualein

the past week has been amazing and jam-packed with adventure. since
our first chance at freedom we've done sightseeing-a-plenty in Taipei,
a beach trip to Fulong and about four days in the south in beautiful
Hualien. We hope you enjoy the gorgeous photos with all the incredibly
wonderful people we've met so far! Wish us luck to our next stop, the
Philippines!

Check out more photos here:
http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/posadasmichelle/post%20parade%20adventures/

Parade Group: Lu Zhou Noodle Festival

this is Cindy, a new person working at Dream Community, wearing the noodle head mask I made, they will use it as a sample to help make 40 more. It makes me giggle. The concept is 40 people will be around the Noodle Float during the parade running around and being chased by giant Bamboo ladles, which are used to make the famous qie "zai main" noodles.

Organization: Lu Zhou Noodle Festival
Group: Building - my favorite 5 rock star volunteers, Participating - 40 adults
Assignment: 1) Design and make a sample noodle head mask 2) Design and create 2 "special" noodle head mask for the Mayor and her secretary Joanne. Gold, Silver, and "bling" was requested in this creation.

Public Workshop

here is my table where I work and where people can come by to make costumes for the parade. I work one 3 hour shift during the week and four 3 hour shifts during the weekend.

Parade Group: Dream Ballet

Young Shen, Wong and I got a bunch done in a few hours

Organization: Dream Ballet
Group: 10 darling dancers from the dance studio at Dream Community, age 8 and up
Assignment: 1) Design and make a float with the Taj Mahal 2) Make the float with Nina's husband (She works at Dream Community) on nights and weekends 3) include a bench so the dancers have a place to rest in between dancing.

day 64: seed dragon

here's what we made with the folks from Chung-Yi Elementary in about 5 hours.

Parade Group: Tree Cafe / Punjabi Dancers

Organization: Tree Cafe / Punjabi Dancers
Group: Building the Float - Employees from the Tree Cafe, Dancing on the Float during the parade - 16 people from India
Assignment: 1) Design and make a beautiful float that where 4 dancers can dance during the parade 2) Design with the theme "Incredible India" 3) Make with 2-3 employees of Tree Cafe from 2-5PM everyday.

Day 62: day off

Akin was the tour guide today and took us to Long Dong, to the ocean. I almost didn't go because I am starting to get sick but I knew that getting away from Dream Community would be very good for my health as well. A highlight from the day was when Akin went into the Ocean for about an hour and caught six fish. We put it on the BBQ along with shish-ka-bobs and a noodle soup. It was wonderful, it was like that is the way things are supposed to be. Getting to know Akin has been a treat, he is an absolutely fascinating and beautiful human being. I am glad he is in this world.

Parade Group: Shih Chen University

They came today for an introduction to the parade and pageant, which included a personal tour with Gordan, Nina and JJ showing them fire dancing, paper mache Akin's giant float (pictured above) and start brainstorming ideas for the pageant.

Organization: Shih Chen University
Group: 20 First Year College Students, Design Department, Architecture
Assignment: 1) Ask them to do whatever I need for the pageant, they will live, eat, and sleep at Dream Community for 10 days 2) As of right now, they will make the flower for the pageant, make robot costumes and be in the pageant as robots. . .but also or instead be animals. . .not sure yet.

Today I gave them an assignment to design a flower with very specific measurements that would have the movement to grow, breathe, die and come alive again. They will present their ideas on Tuesday, then me and the other artists will design the flower based on their ideas. It's interesting process that I am into.

Parade Group: Chong Yi Elementry

Organization: Chong Yi Elementry (in Lu Zhou!)
Group: 5th - 6th Grade; 60 kids in samba costumes and 30 samba drummers
Assignment: 1) Design and make a template for cute samba costume that matches the samba drummer costume from last year. Parents will make the costume in one week 2) Design a cute visual element that will represent their school. Their school logo also has the image of a sprouting seed. 5 adults will come to Dream Community 3 days to make the puppet.

day 58: this is what parades are about

tomas, elena and bernvard

tonight was a great night: everyone dancing to music, little kids hitting each other with foam, paint on my hands, coffee, people visiting the workshop around midnight, laughing, giant butterflies, spontaneous synchronized choreography, stinky tofu, chocolate, conversations in 4 languages (spanish, french, mandarin and english), singing, puppets, and so on. this is what parades are about, i'm glad it's starting to finally feel this way.

the pageant: version 2.1

Kristi pointing, Kole behind her head (with Sun Son theater), Loenson (director), Bernvard (a new artist from Germany) and JJ.

another meeting yesterday . . . it was supposed to be shorter, but including the ad hock meetings, like this one, it made our end time around 2PM, just 3 hours shy of last week. so the director looked at our proposals and whittled it down to a beautiful, not complicated, dramatic, abstract and impressive production. (the robots and robot flower made the cut) It is basically an emotive and experiential piece with lots of singing, dancers/drummers in the dozens (including 100 belly dancers), fire dancers, fire works, giant projectors, voice overs, some puppets (including 50 animals) and hydraulics. This meeting here we are actually deciding what type of hydraulics would best work for the flower. Sometimes I catch myself in complete disbelief that this is all really happening.

Siou Fong Elementry: DONE!

1 parade group down, four more to go! in addition the potential of more groups, puppets for the pageant, final touches on the turtle and of course my own parade costume.

day 57: moon festival

the full moon


the moon cakes

this past week has been much talk about the moon festival, which officially was celebrated last night on the eve of a full moon. it happens the 15th of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. everyone has actually been buzzing about it for weeks now. I wasn't quite sure what all the hoopla was about. But in this last week I found myself to eat lots and lots and lots moon cakes, the smell of bar-b-que in every direction, the majority of folks (not including Dream Community) going to their hometowns for a 4-day weekend with family and eating lots of moon cakes. the mid-Autumn festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year. Last night a few of us took a little break and went for a walk up the mountain near Dream Community. We rested our bums to gaze at the bright bright moon, ate moon cakes (big surprise) and pamelos. it was nearly perfect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

Public Workshop: sweet little muffin

a gem! I helped her parents make the turtle costume for her today. I decided to make costumes that matched the giant float I made. Also I like that the turtle is a symbol of long life here and I think it is lovely in terms that the theme is "hope."


I can't handle how sweet this is, can you imagine an entire turtle brigade of sweet peanuts like this one? In an earlier blog I stated that how great it was to see people taking pictures here in Taiwan always posing with the peace sign, it actually stands for "V" for victorious.

day 52: meeting, planning, and preparing

the calender in the office
to the left, a samba dancer costume tomas designed for his dragon float

i've been spending most of my time meeting, planning, and preparing. I'm a bit anxious to get to the doing part, we only have 28 days until the big day. We've been here for about two weeks and what we have is a few floats that have just started to been built and conceptual drafts of the pageant. i'm nervous because I know when it comes, it will come hard and fast. But none-the-less, "Ji-yo!" (Keep going!)

here is a taste of my current work load, which is not that terrible in comparison to others here: cover 5 shifts of public workshop time (which are between 2-3hours), during that time teach mask/costume making or help make whatever people dream up, create 2-3 masks samples for the public workshops, also teach a little samba dancing at the public workshop (really), create model and template for Shiou Fong Elementary, make sketches for Chung-Yi Elementary (costumes for 60 samba dancers and puppet to go with the seed theme) and sketch ideas for a big float to represent "India" for 16 Punjabi Dancers (i'm having a rough time with this ethically). And on average I get a new Parade group every other day and after Tuesday I will begin making objects for the Pageant.

oh my my.

Pageant of Hope: Sketches

I am the director of Scene 6: Greedy and Scene 7: Destroy. Due today is a written proposal for the scenes, a title and sketches. The pageant was written by Inchi, who works at Dream Community and it is our task to interpret it and realize it. It is about hope and can be simplified as the story of Taiwan, which tells the journey from birth to death and then rebirth. It begins with a volcanic eruption that leaves a seed, it grows into an island and flower, an orchid. Animals and then people who are on the island discover the flower. Then other "people from somewhere else" discover the flower, name it and then fight over it. Then the "people from somewhere else" win and want to change it, the flower dies in the process, the "people who lived on the island first" cry. Then the "people who lived their first" call the upon the king of the sun and they are told to go to the end of the earth and retrieve the fire. After they get the fire, by using the rainbow, the flower is revived and everyone celebrates.

Based on the idea's we've tossed around, I think this pageant will look very different. There is talk, of course if the budget is approved, for a gigantic stage in the shape of a giant sun with rays that are ramps, hydraulic levels for the stage, a crane for acrobats, fireworks, fire dancers and more. The pageant field is one block long and the idea is it will be in the round.

Below are my sketches for my proposal: "Machine of Destruction." For the most part, we've interpreted this story to be about colonization and that the story of Taiwan is a story that has repeated itself since the beginning of time. I'm thrilled considering i'v been using these themes in my own work back in Philly. The artists directing the previous scene, Ben & Jessie, are excited that the "people from somewhere else" are robots. Jiving on that, I've envisioned the robots as this capitalistic machine that conquer, change what exists in their own image and leave to conquer the next island. My scene ends with the "people who where their first" becoming audience to their flower turning into a robot, of course during the robot dance. When the robots leave they cry and each carry fallen flower dancer.

But as I said, this is a proposal. The next step is for Leonson and Elena, the pageant co-directors, to take our proposals and present to us the final draft. Then we can finally start.

Parade Group: Siou Fong Elementry

Organization: Siou Fong Elementry
Group: 4th - 6th Grade; 60 kids in latin marching band and 20 latin dancers
Assignment: Design and make a template for costume in a latin style and incorporate the element "seed" which represents hope, the theme for this year. 80 children will make the costume under their teachers instruction and my guidence. They will have 10 hours of class time to make it.

day 49: 32 days to go

an unflattering photo of everyone but certainly captures the feeling of today, an unexpected 8 hour pageant meeting. the main contributing factors of this occurrence was translation, the lacking of structure and facilitation. but despite that, we got stuff done: laid out a framework for the pageant, each artist was assigned a section, and we figured out our next steps. we have a very tall glass to fill before the big day. we also met the other co-director of the Pageant, leonson, he is behind me in the green shirt. he is from Sun Son Theater and they have been highly spoken about here: http://www.sunsontheater.com.tw/. i'm excited about working with him and Elena as co-directors.

i found myself today experiencing moments of inspiration from my comrades and struggle with the process. i found it difficult it witness such inefficiency of time and energy, but it I am not in my a place to do anything to change that. i am here and I must embrace flexibility in order for me to survive the next 32 days. i need to remind myself why I am here, get everything I can from this and as Kristi says, "remember that this is fun."

day 48: absolute gorgeousness

yesterday was our day off and went to Jin Shan, golden mountain, to relax at the hot springs. to get there we had a little hike up the mountain, including this bridge over the river


up in the mountain and tucked away inside, was this little paradise with waterfalls and flowing water into a series of pools that were hot and cold.


i found myself getting lost with my body emeresed in the hot pools and looking up towards the fog rolling through the surrounding mountains. it was perfect. if I got too hot, i took a little break on the rocks and the light drizzly rain cooled me off.


afterwards we went to the restaurant owned by the mother of one of our hosts. as we ate the unbelievably delicious food (that kept coming even after I thought I was full) this was our view. in the back ground is the river that we hiked along on our way up the mountain.


top row: ashein (host), patti, agun, kristi, jessi, tan thun (host)
botton row: me, eleana, amy
*I don't know the correct spellings of the names in Mandarin

yesterday was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, overwhelmingly stunning.

day 47 + 46: a whirlwind of a weekend

here is the public workshop side to our outdoor studio. not pictured here to the right and back is where we are making floats. it was open for the first time this weekend from -10AM-12PM, 2-5PM, and 7-10PM. on weekdays it's open from are from 7-10PM.

in reflection of the past few days, i am astonished of how much has happened. it's been jam-packed with working or being anxious about working but also some really good hanging out with the other artists here. it seems that we have made an effort to make fun a priority. like thursday night, we all went over to my apartment (which i like to call "discotheque jean-paul." since jean-paul is from France and also my flatmate that has been away the past month) listened to music, drank some alcohol and everyone got a fabulous hair cut. sunday night we had a dance party in the puppet theater, a fair well for jake, that included theater games and spontaneous choreography. just imagine a room with over a dozen wacky puppeteers and theater folks. Then last night was laid back, we had samba lesson with Jake that included learning the basics of one specific form of drumming and sang along with songs that we all knew . . . there were about 4 madonna songs AND dolly parton's "9-5," i'm not kidding. then afterwards was the first session of "show + tell," where we shared stories, music and images of the work we do back home. all these little bits have kept a big smile on my face the past few days. i've been able to get a glimmer of each person and appreciating them for who they are. it's certainly collective because we had this big pageant meeting today and you could feel the camaraderie in the room. it left me feeling that the task at hand was more possible and for that, I am overwhelmingly thankful.

day 43: lu zhou, one last time

the logo


the head and noodle ball


the body


Pony with a back view of the noodles painted

another morning of women dancing tango at 9:30AM and another project 95% done. for some reason today went just ok. maybe it's because I was by myself, jessie and jeri were missing, maybe I was tired, or maybe i was a little more sensitive today. i kept feeling that they weren't entirely happy with how it came out. I didn't know what to do or how to communicate with them in order to give them everything they wanted. All I know is I tried my best today and I left them where they can certainly finish it on their own. I think everyone did a spectacular job and I think it looks great.

fieldtrip: parade route and pageant

us looking at the pageant space and president's hall in the background


the performance space for the pageant

tonight we went to Taipei to check out the performance space for the pageant. it is an entire block of an avenue, approximately 11 car lanes, in front of President's Hall. I feel so incredibly honored to parade in Taipei and have a gigantic pageant in front of "the white house" of Taiwan. The parade is on Saturday, October 31 from 3-5PM and the pageant will be from 6:30PM to 8:30PM, at night. They expect about 5,000 people to come see the pageant and thousands more to see parade. This will be the first year the Dream Parade will be in Taipei. . .oh my my. It will be gorgeous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Building_(Taiwan)

the next big thing: wow

ben, jessie and dan


kristi, jerry, wendy, jody, and jeri near the door


patti, tomas, elena


Yesterday was our first artist meeting and we got the scoop on what's on the horizon from now until the parade. There are 100 groups with about 20-30 people each. They will range from elementary schools, organizations, college students, community groups, aboriginal tribes and so on. Each artist, there are 9 of us total at 3 different workshop sites, will have 10 groups each. We are to design, teach, and juggle all these groups to create projects they have already have in mind or if they are at an inspirational loss, guide them. Each artist is also responsible to build for 2-3 floats for the parade. This is to be made with the groups in whatever way we can figure out is best according to schedules, people power and desire. This is just for the parade. There will also be a pageant with ten sections. Each of us has a section and we are to create the objects to be used, they can also be made by our groups.

What do i think? Wow. This is so much work, for not that many artists along with other factors that make this task really stretch reality. A nearly impossible task. I say to myself, breath and yell "Ji-yo!" (keep going)

day 38 through 41: the midnight hours

almost every night i've been up to about 3:00AM to 5:00AM madly and tirelessly finishing the turtle. i've gotton about 6 hours of sleep each night and working nearly every waking moment. and alas the day has finally come . . .that is it 95% done. it's done enough, that I can work on the little things between now and until the parade. overall, i'm proud of myself.

I am running a little ragged and finding less time to do anything, including updating this very blog. Despite this, I am amazed at my ability to keep my energy and spirits up as well as the lovely folks around me. Including new folks that have come: Kristi (Minneapolis), Patti (Colorado) and Ben & Dan (Melbourne, Australia). Tomorrow I go back to Lu Zhou by myself, one last time, for some finishing touches with the giant noodle baby float (it is not a noodle man at all), I am looking forward to it. The Jessie and Jeri combo will be separated to three sites. I will stay here at Dream Community, Jeri will go to the Jane Goodall Institute in Taipei and Jessie will go to
Neihou Community College. We've had separation anxiety all day. I will miss them. . .

earthquake. . .

uhh. . .i was just in the office on the computer too late at night. and i've noticed a few rodents in the office, they make some noise you know. i heard a rumble and i thought it was them again, but then it got louder very quickly and the room started shaking and then I realized. . .oh man this is an earthquake, acutally i'm expereince some aftershocks as we speak. wow. then I calmly with big eyes walked to the nearest door frame like your supposed too (i think) and I just stood until it was over. . .Max said in Hualien, they happen all the time, he's used to them. . .

day 37: hao whan

back to Lu Zhou today. . .wonderfully, nothing was ordinary about today, as opposed to yesterday. we come in about 9:30AM and walked in the giant room with women paired up practicing ballroom dancing, specifically, Tango. then all my favorite noodle float people came in one by one and enchanted more and more. . .then before. they are such hard working goofy folks that I really enjoy, though we only exchange the same few dozen words I know in Mandarin. and of course they constantly fed us food, tea, and snacks all day long, my belly never understands what hungry is when I am in Lu Zhou. Working on the float today went smoothly and splendidly, i would say fun, "hao whan." after lunch Joanne taught us a beautiful Taiwanese song, see the video below. to top off the evening, at around 7:30PM, a group of people came into the what I've assessed to be a community center of sorts, with yellow shirts that read on the collar "line dance" in English. then the rest of the evening was them practicing. i love Taiwan.



Lee Chee Shang, my noodle partner in crime, in front of the giant bowl spilling noodles a.k.a. hundreds on newspaper wrapped tediously around wire



This is Joanne singing to us, it is about someone saying good bye to someone they love and wishing for them to come back

day 36: getting into an ordinary rhythm

i've spent the past few days tediously working on the turtle float. my progress is little, but i am proud of the way it looks thus far. i have doubts i'll finish on time, this seems to be no surprise, but i'll try my best. i decided to just do a stellar job on the head and to the best of my perfectionist ability "quickly" paint the rest of the turtle.

the past few days has also been low key in terms of "wow, i'm a new place and guess what wild thing happened today." i've been here over a month and i'm getting into an ordinary rhythm. when i stay in Sijhih, i usually stay within a few hundred meters around the area, so dazzling new experiences happen less frequently. But none-the-less I learn a little more mandarin each day, listen to good music while i work, goof off in times of pure exhaustion and make beautiful things.

Good news. My friend Elena from Bilbo, Spain arrived yesterday, she is also an invited artist here for the Dream Parade. oh I am so glad she is here, she is a brilliant person and i haven't seen her in exactly three years, the last time i was in Spain. She is a beautiful spirit to be around.

Today we are off to Lu Zhou to help with the Noodle Float again. . .9AM-9PM. whew.

day 34: qie zai mian noodles

so i spent the weekend in Lu Zhou, about an hour away from Sijhih. me, jessie, and jeri helped start the structure for a float for their annual qie zai mian festival. it is pronounced "che-a-may" and it is a famous noodle soup that Lu Zhou is known for. the concept of the float is a giant bowl tilted spilling tons of noodles all over the truck with a giant "noodle man" (the festival mascot and logo) in the back of the truck holding chop sticks eating the noodles.

the people we worked with were incredible hosts! They feed us constantly and so welcoming and fun to hang out with. other then the workshop, their hospitality, the food was also memorable. in less than 48 hours, i not only had the famous qie zai mian, but also shark, sauteed intestines, fried intestines, fried fish eye balls, eel and probably over two dozen other dishes with tons of different ways to cook meat, seafood and vegetables.


a side profile of the giant bowl covering the front of the truck


me with the hard working women to make the structure of the bowl


jessie with pony, making the structure of the head of the noodle man, yes his head is a giant bowl with noodles in it.


jeri with one of the women I work with that I can't remember her name, but she's a firecracker. they are making the body and feet of the noodle man