Yes, I’m still here. It’s been so long since I’ve had a chance to make an entry, I can’t possibly remember all that has happened over the past two weeks! Since I last wrote I’ve had so many new experiences I surely can’t recall all of them right now, but here’s a few anyway.
In the last two weeks I have eaten Taiwanese Aboriginal food including fried crickets and bees (yes, can you believe it!), I’ve been on the deck of the 17th floor of a department store in Kaohsiung to see a spectacular view of the city, including Taiwan’s largest building, I’ve been to Sun Moon Lake, the Snake Kiln at Shui-li where some of us stayed in tree houses (yes, real ones) and visited an absolutely huge jade market in Taichung, Taiwan’s 3rd largest city (I think?). We went to see the largest Buddhist temple in Taiwan which is still under construction and is truly awesome (words cannot describe it!) and last night I tasted both lavender and pine vinegars which are supposed to be excellent for your health! The sauna I had in a huge ceramic pot at Shui-li didn’t hurt either!
It’s hard to believe that we managed to fit all this in when we have been working so extremely hard to finish our lanterns. We leave for the Yingge Ceramics Museum on Thursday and our lanterns are at varying stages of completion. The idea is to put the finishing touches on at the festival. I am very happy with my lantern so far and hope that it fares well through the firing process. It ended up relating very closely to the Chinese cut out windows that I see all around me (these are based on the traditional Chinese wooden windows which I find very beautiful!). I like it when these influences enter my work quite subconsciously. It was one of the students who pointed it out to me!
I don’t have time to write more at the moment, but will try to post another entry soon — not sure what my computer access will be once I’m at the festival in Yingge.
Hope this finds everyone well. The weather here continues to be perfect!
Bye for now,
Grace