Elevation

Today, I made art. My cousin broke out his calligraphy set, and we drew Chinese characters with a brush, or a mau pie, which means hair pen. It is a lot harder than it sounds. At first, I just picked up the brush, like you would a pencil, but you hold this brush differently. When you write with this brush, you have to grip the brush with your first and second fingers on the top of the brush. In addition you also have to hold the brush vertically to the paper, instead of tilted like you would a pen. The other difficult part is that, just like eating at a fancy restaurant, you can't rest your elbow on the table. Your arm needs to be parallel to the table. All of this combines to make writing difficult, but it is a worthy challenge. In traditional Chinese society, there were four arts that any scholar worth his salt was supposed to have mastered: the strategy game called "go", playing an instrument, Chinese painting, and calligraphy. It is an interesting concept, and I am happy to report, that though I have no idea what I am writing, I do have a certain knack for calligraphy. My cousins told me that in a few weeks, we will travel to a city that sells a lot of inexpensive calligraphy sets. I think I know what souvenir I want to buy. It is a surprisingly relaxing past time, much like yoga or coloring. I would love to pursue it further.

The brush set (left), the paper, and the writing pad

 When you practice calligraphy, you use special paper that has a grid on it so that you can make all of the strokes in the characters proportional. The paper is really thin, though, so you use a felt writing pad underneath it, to prevent the ink from bleeding through.

My cousin's super nice brush set

See, this is the wrong hand position

But, this is right.

Here are some of my characters 

Our work station

After my calligraphy lesson, I went mountain climbing. There are several mountain trails in Taipei, so most of the citizens hike for exercise. The trail that my uncle and I took lead to the Chinese Culture University. No, that is not a school to learn about bacteria, or cheese. It is a beautiful new structure on the top of Yao Min mountain, where students learn about culture. So, I would guess that they have a calligraphy class there. I wouldn't know. All I know is that the mountain trail that you can climb to get there is no joke. When I say trail, I don't mean something flowery and gently sloping up the mountain side. No, I mean stairs. Hundreds of stairs.

Our destination

moped parking lot

All of that climbing, was death on the calves, but it was good for two reasons: First, it allowed me to prepare for my upcoming backpacking trip in June. Which will take me through the Oregon and Washington section of the Pacific Coast trail. Second, there was this view.

From the top of the mountain, we could see all of Taipei. Let me tell you, Taipei is HUGE. I can see why people brave the walk up the mountain, it is really an incredible sight. At the end of a trip, most people ask you if you would want to go back. I'm not even half way through with my trip, and I'm practically scoping out apartments. I want to live here. The proximity to nature combined with the metropolitan atmosphere make Taipei, the best of both worlds. Well, my friends, it is time to call it a night. Au revior.