thecuriouskilt-blog - Tumblr blog

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Today I was in Kaohsiung, the City of Sunshine. Even though it's mid-November it was at least 30°C and I got sunburned to fuck. Kaohsiung is a port city and has been since it was established during the Qing Dynasty nearly 400 years ago. It's passed hands many times and has been an important city to Taiwan. I originally planned to visit the old port area and train station but on my way I found this old Japanese village. It was built for the workers of an Oil Refinery. Even found this creepy old bunker which took me 4 attempts to go in cause I was so feart. This is the BIGGEST Japanese villages I've ever found in Taiwan. Despite it's age most houses are still standing and not completely destroyed. Most are abandoned yet I saw renovation going on some had residents living there. I striked up a conversation with some elderly tennis players to ask about Taiwan's history including the Japanese colonisation and White Terror periods. I've noticed it's hard to get a detailed response to these questions. Perhaps it's hard to talk about. There were 2 people who gave me detailed accounts of what happened but my Chinese isn't good yet to fully understand it all. Luckily I recorded it all so if I'm looking for someone to help me translate and transcribe the video. Overall, life during the White Terror was exactly that. A terror. It's perhaps too much to write here so I'll make a blog post detailing what they told me. I'll also get the video up too. I sometimes find it hard to ask certain questions cause I'm afraid that people may be offended or upset by the questions. The elderly in Taiwan have lived lives that most of us are lucky to have never experienced. Curfews, oppression, no freedom of speech, dictatorships, totalitarian governments, mass killings, cultural genocide just to name a few. I'll keep learning Chinese and find more personal accounts during this period. While there are plenty of books that tell us what happened, I'm interested in hearing individual stories from real people. On top of that, I want to delve deeper into the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan, particularly the tribes Rukai and Paiwan. . . . #taiwan (at 宏南中油宿舍) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5AN5lVH2F7l30Ypty5XCIgmRaAxJG6wCIa7RA0/?igshid=7vg4hl75unfv

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Dragon Lion Dancing is when those two kids in a trench coat decide to go pro. This is the Kaohsiung International Lion Dance. Competitors came from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and China to take part. Hong Kong donned an entirely black dragon lion and costume. Many people could be heard shouting 香港加油 before their performance. I'm really not so good with making videos yet but I hope you can enjoy it. I'll make a better way later. Seriously, the athleticism, grace, and strength needed to do this is insane. They were twirling, jumping, flipping, and all crazy mofo stuff. Unfortunately, one duo from Malaysia fell into the water. Dragon Lion Dancing (舞龍舞獅) has two people perform a dance on top of the many totem poles. The one at the back is the strongest as they have to lift and throw the other from totem to totem. The front person carries the extremely large and heavy heads the entire time. The head even has moveable eyes, ears, and mouth which all must be used for extra points. What makes it great is the story they tell. Dancing in sync to the music and sometimes even the smallest movements were just as beautiful as the big moves. . . . #kaohsiungliondance#taiwan#kaohsiung#traditional#culture#dragon#dragondance#liondance#舞龍舞時獅#台灣#文化 (at 高雄市立國際游泳池) https://www.instagram.com/p/B47psy9HOWgYzG4yrTEhR67s29Hzy8CreFxJlg0/?igshid=1rw5e7whiucnh

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Tea People Say: There's always a tea that understands you, have you found yours? . . . #tea #chinese #mandarin #taiwan #茶 #中文 #國語 #台灣 (at Nanzih District, Kaohsiung City) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4g-ElQAj_1/?igshid=5clu1xhw0xd6

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Beautiful sunset while leaving Taipei 🌇 漂亮的日落卻離開台北市 🌇 #taipei #travel #sunset (at Taipei, Taiwan) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4W7193n60rpw4crpHKA92UG9YY52kE5BWbWAU0/?igshid=nzsapmpujl2m

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On Saturday, Taiwan held it's first Gay Pride Parade since it became the first Asian country to legalise gay marriage 🏳️‍🌈🇹🇼😍 禮拜六台灣有第一次同性遊行從它變第一次亞洲的國家認證同性婚姻 🏳️‍🌈🇹🇼😍 . . . #gaypride #pride #gaymarriage #taiwan #taiwanno1 #ilovetaiwan #taipei #anotherdayintaipei #scotland #kilt #thecuriouskilt (at Taipei) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4J372JFpBz/?igshid=1nga3k2xdnbci

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What's up folks? Not really been uploading much the past three weeks while here in Japan. Mostly been enjoying it too much and also cause my data is limited 😂 Anyway, today's October 24th and I'm coming back home 🇹🇼 The past 3 weeks have been an amazing and unforgettable time. It's my 3rd time in Japan 🇯🇵 and I finally got round to visiting the South and the Kansai area. I spent the first week with Aki visiting friends, family and sightseeing. I just followed her so I didn't need to plan or think much at this time. She left on the 9th then and I've been solo since then. One week in Kansai: two nights camping in Osaka, 4 nights at a friend's in Kyoto, 1 night camping in Kobe, then I hitchhiked my way down to Hiroshima to visit Ryuta. I wish I had spent more time in Hiroshima to visit the Peace Museum and learn about it's history but I needed to get down to Fukuoka. I hitchhiked all the way there too thanks to the lovely people of Hiroshima and Fukuoka. Back in Fukuoka, I attended the amazing Polyglot Conference 2019 #polycon2019 organised by Richard Simcott @speakingfluently and Tim Keeley @timdeankeeley Fantastic job guys and can't wait for Mexico #polycon2020 3 days of making friends in new languages, learning new ones, and losing my bag and passport 😢 (I thankfully got them back). Thank you to @hakozakigarden for being such wonderful hosts in their traditional styled guesthouse and calling the train station to help get my bag back. Also, check them out to try on a beautiful #kimono for free and get some top notch photos 👘 📸 I planned to go to #Nagosaki but I didn't budget well and didn't bring enough money 😅 Two nights camping in Fukuoka, and one night in a 24-hour restaurant because #fukuokaairport closes at 10:30 PM 😮 I have so many more photos and videos to upload but this'll do for now. I'll upload photos about each place and teaching you all something about it. Now, it's 7am, I'm at the airport and waiting for my flight ✈ 🕒 😴 Thank you, Japan. Until next time ありがとうございます. またねー♡ . . . #japan #travel #adventure #hitchhike #culture #history #castles #temple #shrine #kyoto #osaka #Hiroshima #fukuoka #boat #polyglot #languages #friends (at Fukuoka Airport) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-svtuA7kA/?igshid=1xmiy5emtp4ew

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This is not a Spa, this is a Supa which means Supermarket... no wonder people were so confused when I asked them where the spa was 😂 #japan #travel #japanese #languages (at Kobe-shi, Hyogo, Japan) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3o0WGAngg1Tvny4YT9a0k_tsH5xystRr4w0YQ0/?igshid=1d8o34rok5btp

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'mon the Scots. Met a couple of Scots the day all kilted up. They were all here for the #rugbyworldcup2019. I was informed Scotland beat Russia the day too... I've not really been following it to be honest. Looking fuckin great lads 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇯🇵 . #japan #Scotland #rugby #travel #kilt #scots #freedom (at Dontonburi) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3ZncB_AHfx/?igshid=lzkuwvni0ksl

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Bye Taro! Thanks for hosting me in Osaka. Sleeping on a futon in small, cosy local house is always fun. See you next time and you're welcome to Scotland and Taiwan anytime 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇹🇼 #osaka (at Osaka) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Y5n7THuqYJEL_FJ8jdG-RpKkWWIQr8OKoyEo0/?igshid=q56kjxg8durt

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On my way to becoming an "influencer"! Can't wait to have 1000 followers and expect everything for free in exchange for exposuuurreeee! . . . #japan #temple #Instagram #influencer #bullshit #pretentious #exposure #instagramreality #choosingbeggars (at Ninna-Ji 仁和寺 Ninna-Ji) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3WaLImHoEdlWHFVd7Egk4-BeeHpjnUTYtQKGw0/?igshid=bhiz8geh3h2s

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✈ 🇯🇵 Japan Travel Tip 🇯🇵✈ When you go to Fukuoka, make sure to get a Hayakaken IC Card/はやかけんICカード. This lets you take any mode of transportation and buy things from shops easily. Most regions have their own form of IC card bet they're universally accepted all across the island. You can even personalise them with your name and add personal details in case you lose it and someone finds it. . . . #japan #fukuoka #kyushu #travel #transport #iccard https://www.instagram.com/p/B3WYAZsAvUD/?igshid=1k1arvei2r2iy

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Cool new word of the day: 鬱鬱 / depressing, gloomy / yu4 yu4, ㄩˋㄩˋ While browsing some books today I stumbled upon this word (on the first page too!) and was fascinated by it. You can see it's incredibly complex and hard to read! This one has 30 strokes so definitely one of the more deep and meaningful words. While I absolutely love Chinese and even the writing, there's 3 reasons why I find a word like this hard to learn: 1) The character is so small and complex it's hard to write it out in apps like Pleco. 3rd pic. 2) Even after learning how to pronounce it, it's hard to type because there are many words with the same pronunciation. So! To find that word I need to go through a drop down list of Chinese characters like in the 5th pic. 3) Because there's so many words with the same pronunciation, the person I'm talking to may not know what word you're trying to say. Either because of my incorrect pronunciation, because it's so specific, or because there's so many words with the same pronunciation 😂 Quite the challenge! 💪 🧠 I'm not writing this to scare and you really shouldn't be. Learning to SPEAK Chinese is one of the easiest languages to learn. It's like LEGO. But moments like this is what makes it fun and interesting. Words that make you stop and scratch your head. Don't be scared and give it a shot. If you are interested I have a whole bunch of resources I can send you to get started 😁🇹🇼 . . . #taiwan #chinese #mandarin #learnchinese #chinesecharacters #hanzi #guoyu #languages #learning #linguistics #polyglot #中文 ＃國語 #漢字 #語言 ＃學習 #語學 (at 松山蔦屋書店) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3HaKM_gOlm/?igshid=1szhq4zsdh6tw

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If you're learning Chinese I recommend this podcast by two Taiwanese girls. https://open.spotify.com/show/5R4l3NmEG8RiXGVJXiEHFW?si=iRdDIMaSSCi3uvURuZh8Qg Their conversations are very casual, relaxed and they talk about everyday life which is what you'll need when you live in Taiwan or China. The best way to practise listening is to listen to natural content like this. This is how people really talk. The reason why so many people struggle to hold a conversation in their learning language is because they only use textbook audio which is unnatural, slow, and usually awkward sounding. I learned this the hard way when I learned Korean. I spent ages reading textbooks and attending classes that drilled grammar, vocabulary, and awkward dialogue. I simply couldn't understand what Korean people were saying in our conversations. Because I couldn't understand them I "studied" more and more and this loop was created. My Chinese is so much better in a shorter time quite simply because I used a lot more native, complete content and practising a whole lot. Best of luck in your language journey ♥ 🇹🇼 🗺 #chinese #learnChinese #polyglot #learnforfun #taiwan #languages #learning #education https://www.instagram.com/p/B29HaggA6XL/?igshid=6oxaps7iblu4

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Caught up with my good friend Danny. One of the few people I've actually kept in touch with since I left high school. We went to the same uni and Danny is teaching in Wuxi, China so it was great to hear your stories mate. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time here in Taiwan. (at Homies SOFT BAR) https://www.instagram.com/p/B20-cMlg5qJ/?igshid=1p0gsvf9njmn7

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Hanging out with the friends today 😂 nah really, animals are the shit. It takes me ages to get anywhere because I stop and play with any animal I pass 😂 . . . #taiwan #taiwanlove #taiwanno1 #animals #cute #park #squirrel #bird #cockatoo #lifeabroad (at 中和 八二三紀念公園（四號公園）) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2l4wn_gSUQ/?igshid=1gv5yup2t2575

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Fresh off the boat and getting savvy on a small country called "Taiwan" 🇹🇼 📖 😂 六六六 This book, "Culture Shock! Taiwan", is so old it talks about the MRT still being developed 😂 nonetheless, the writer clearly understands Taiwanese culture well. Maybe I'll write an update to it? 🤔 📙 📝 The part that stands out is where he says that Taiwanese people don't have jokes like we do in the West where there's usually a setup and punchline. Instead, the Taiwanese jokes usually revolve around stories, experiences, and people. I even tried directly translating an English joke into Chinese just to see how they'd respond... needless to say, it was not understood too well even after I explained it. Obviously, this means it's very difficult for Westerners to understand Taiwanese humour sometimes. It's very contextual and esoteric. I'm still getting the hang of it 🇹🇼 😂 P.S. I'm notorious for closing my eyes during pictures but I'm all for things being natural and sharing things as they are so I didn't retake it. Perhaps IG could do with some more real people and less fake crap from "influencers" who sell this glamorous lifestyle as if it's their everyday real life. IG and social media needs more honesty and openess. . . . #taiwan#west#scottish#scots#travel#traveller#jokes#humour#humor#culture#cultureshock#learning#experience#expat#book#savvy#文化＃台灣＃外國人＃蘇格蘭 (at 路易莎咖啡 Louisa Coffee - 瑞安門市) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Y1iFPgHAe/?igshid=168ijt1bcgjoo

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One more reason to love Taiwan 🇹🇼😍 People carrying bunnies in clear backpacks and letting you play with them ♥ 🐰 🇹🇼 . . . #taiwan #taiwanno1 #taiwanindependence #bunny #rabbit #animal #pet #freedom https://www.instagram.com/p/B2QvJJInOMUV5dSr2W4-bA-hohbyApJQyhMaNw0/?igshid=mirrwbkfc1l4