Panels, Lectures, and 1 presidential meeting: Fulbright Taiwan Conference

March 4, I left Beijing for Taipei for a week long Fulbright Mid-Year Research Conference  Upon arrival at the airport, I had this funny feeling that my flight information was wrong. And sure enough, I was supposed to be on the 8:30am flight (I arrived at the airport at 11am). I had confused my flight information because my flight out of Beijing changed several times due to a combination of my schedule changes, and Fulbright policy changes with booking...so annoying. Luckily, Robin, another Fulbrighter, was there to calm me down and help me get on the next flight. Air China changed me to the 2pm with Robin, free of charge! It was my lucky day. And then, Robin got me into the United Lounge with her and we had a nice free lunch, and free internet! So great! We arrived in Taipei, and took a cab together to our really nice hotel (paid for courtesy of US Taxpayers, thank you!), Amba Hotel. After dropping off my stuff, a large group of Fulbrighters and I went together to a night market, one of Taiwan's famous culinary destinations. The night markets are full of fried food, fresh fruit, insects, coconut juice, bubble tea, and more! Small food carts line the streets as people wander from one shop to the next. Afterwards, we felt a little overloaded on grease, but still loved it!

Tuesday was our first official day at the conference. Each day consisted of panels, breakout groups, and a keynote address. The panels were on International Affairs, Domestic Taiwanese Governance, Religion/Gender/Education Issues, Public Health & the Environment, and Taiwanese Economy. While the panels were really interesting (and resulted in 2 great contacts for me), they were really long and took up a lot of time. The keynote addresses were definitely a highlight. On our first day, we heard a speech about Taiwanese Consciousness (What does it mean to be Taiwanese?). The next day the "Director of the American Institute of Taiwan" (aka the Ambassador to Taiwan, but we can't say that because America does not recognize Taiwan as a country) spoke to us about being Fulbrighters, his life experience in Taiwan, etc. And the highlight of the whole week- We met Ma Ying-jeou, the president of Taiwan!!!! You can watch the complete video of his speech here (and there are a few shots of me- I'm in a red sweater in the front on the right side) and read an article about it here. He was very eloquent and articulate. He emphasized Taiwan's role as a peacemaker in Cross-Strait relations, and the diaoyu islands controversy with Japan. It was great to hear him speak, and promote such pragmatic policies. Afterwards, he took questions for probably a half hour. I got to ask him about increasing women's role in government in Taiwan! Actually, Taiwan has the 4th highest participation rate of women in the parliament (33%!) because of a quota system that requires 1/3 of the parliament to be women. While that's a great accomplishment compared to most of the world (the US Senate only has 20% women), isn't it sad that "the best" we can do right now is still only 1/3? Anyways, President Ma brushed off the question by talking about how great Taiwan is already doing so that was still disappointing, but hey, I spoke directly to the President of a country (well, kind of country...?)! And then at the end he went around and shook everyone's hands!!! so awesome! Through the rest of the week, we also had many "breakout" sessions where fellow Fulbright researchers divided up based on the subject of our projects to discuss progress, challenges, and solutions so far. It was really helpful hearing what other people were doing, and being reassured that I'm not a total failure so far. We also brainstormed some great solutions and ways to help each other out throughout the year. By Thursday night, we were all exhausted from having our ears talked off. After a final buffet dinner (my personal favorite), we all began our vacation, which lasted another week in Taiwan!

Another wonderful weekend in Beijing!

On March 1, I embarked on a 2.5 week journey- first stop, Beijing! I decided to fly this time after my previous unpleasant train ride (see my blog post about trains in China). To get to the airport in Xi'an, there's a shuttle bus that leaves from the bell tower. Friday morning, I headed out to get a rickshaw to the bell tower and told him I was going to the airport shuttle bus. The driver insisted there was one from the train station, which is much closer to my house than the bell tower. So I agreed to give it a try. Upon arrival, I was swept into an unmarked van crammed full of random Chinese people also headed to the airport. Turns out it was not the official airport shuttle bus, but in the end, I made it alive and in one piece to the airport! While at the airport, I was repeatedly treated like a stupid foreigner who didn't speak Chinese, even though I kept trying to communicate in Mandarin! It was so frustrating because they don't really speak english either so they just yell at me in broken English...

Anyways, I finally arrived in Beijing and took the subway over to Zan and Kate's apartment in the hutongs. After some minor difficulty getting into the apartment, I dropped my stuff off and went grocery shopping for our small dinner party! Wayne and I cooked the recipes from our cooking class in December- Kungpao Chicken and Stir-fried Sichuan Green beans. They were delicious! And Rebecca made mac and cheese from a box brought from the USA! (This is the height of culinary excitement over here in China...). It was great to catch up with my best friends, almost like I had never left! And Kate had only just gotten back from 6 weeks in America so we were all finally reunited again! :)

That night, Zan and Kate had a house warming party. Unfortunately the neighbors got angry around 11:30pm so we all had to leave for a bar to continue the festivities. The next day, Zan, Kate, and I just relaxed at Zan's. That evening, I met up with Ruty, Dylan, and a few other friends at Kro's Nest, a great pizza place in Beijing. Then I met up with Chantal, one of Zan's close friends, for her birthday KTV! Afterwards, we went dancing at the fanciest club in Beijing, Spark. The next day, Zan, Chantal, Shu (Zan's awesome Chinese neighbor), and I went for a traditional Beijing style lunch, and then the Beijing Flower Market! It was so pretty and green. Of course, Zan was freaking out because she LOVES flowers. Chantal and Shu also bought some pretty things. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I couldn't buy anything since I live in Xi'an, but still fun to look around! Then Chantal, Zan, and I went for mani/pedis. Rebecca and I then went to our favorite spa, Kokoon at the Opposite House Hotel, the coolest and trendiest hotel in Beijing (in my opinion). To finish off a great day, Rebecca, Zan, Kate, Chantal, and I went to Apothecary (a trendy, fancy cocktail bar, complete w/ hand-chipped ice and a perfected "hard shake") for drinks, and then dinner at Carmen, a great Spanish tapas place.

The next morning I flew out to Taiwan for a weeklong Fulbright conference and then a week of Taiwan vacation! :)