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