The nightly ride...

It begins against a pinkish background; the sun is about to leave the sky. The students, here and there, some calmly others noisily, process slowly down the hill; a living flux. Tsing Hua is never empty, but always peaceful. The road turns into a trail; it is now when the nightly journey really begins.

An undefeated steep segment stays victoriously, it is possible to hear it whispering a welcome back in the gust. The wind stays, the steep slope's way to encourage those riding; don't give up... Just a few meters more... You will do better the next time...

The rest of the trail is silent, respectful; the ghostly walkers too; it is possible to smell the silence, to feel it crawling on the skin, to taste its herbal flavour, but hear it.

The night has come; the dark sky vault can be seen as the bamboo canopy is left behind; stars are hidden beyond our polluting photons, dreaming about that time when they could see those tiny beings that manage to hide their lives from them behind a resplandecent courtain.

Now it is possible to hear the silence, it croacks! Splashes! Flaps its dark wings on the sky and screeches!

This week movies,

This week, I can recommend the following movies,

1. Assembly, ****
   
   This film tells the story of a certain episode of the Chinese civil war between the People's Liberation Army and the National Army. A story about recognition for the death. Not our typical western war movie.
   


2. Man on Wire, ****
   
   This is a documentary about Phillippe Petit, the tightrope walker who cruised the abyss between the now destroyed Twin Towers of the WTC. A documentary about the ego, the plot, the ego, the friends and, yes, the ego.
   


3. Gomorrah, ***
   
   A movie about the Camorra, the Italian Mafia. Their modus operandi and modus vivendi. I found myself lost on this film at times; if you ask me, some of the stories just do not flow seamlessly into a whole picture. Nevertheless, an eye opener.
   


4. Idiocracy, ***
   
   This is a comedy and a satire. The first 3 minutes made me roll on the floor laughing. I know intelligence has nothing to do with genes but nevertheless it seems like just that is happening.
   

The ninth episode of The Big Bang Theory third season is out there and you will not believe what is happening in Wollowitz' life.

Thanksgiving 2009

I am thankful for this life, for the chance of roaming the earth in the arms of my beloved family, by the hands of my awesome friends.

The Giant Iguana, my bike, is ready, loaded with enough food for a day. It is amazing how cheap food is in Taiwan. The bill for water, fruit, orange juice, half a chicken, bread and a sausage was 382 NTD, a little bit more than 10 USD. The day is just about to start, the sea is waiting, always waiting...

Hsinchu is not Taipei, a left alone Lexus, its engine purring with nobody in sight, reminds me. Taiwan is not Mexico, an arms dealer shop which is empty of costumers makes me have the day nightmare of such a store back home...

Quality of life, city parks to sit and enjoy breakfast at the shade of a massive tree while a traffic department lady checks the cars for parking permits. Civilization, being able to bike without risking one's life enjoying statues here and there; unblemish statues, grafitti seems to be as foreign as it sounds. Hsinchu is not a big city, respect seems to be still a currency...

The fields, the city is left behind, come with a realization: Taiwan is a secesionist of China. Jet fighter patrols taking off every 10 minutes and landing accordingly make me thing about the surrealism behind living in a country that is not a country, at least not for the UN and the world biggest players. The war birds are as beutiful as dangerous. Fear is not up for the trip. This is a trip of peace, a thanksgiving tour...

A small town, Hsinchu Harbor, appears. Crisis, an unfinished highway stays in the middle of the river leading to a certain death if one were to follow it. It reminds me of the ghost mall and hotels in downtown Hsinchu City, another face of the same coin. There were always better times in the past...

The sea! The needle sting of sand blast off by the wind. The sea! Immense, surrounding everything, both peaceful and turbulent. A lively sea. At last we met windy Taiwan Straight. The sand is dark, the sea is brave, the wind is strong. I'm home. Beware me, shouts the sea, once you dwell on me nothing is the same...

The Harbor's park is lively, kytes flight up on the sky, families group around the jungle gyms, fish are taken out of the water by amateur fishermen, tandem bykes parading love around. It's a thursday in Taiwan...

17km await, flirting, promising time to think and the companionship of just the sea. The common sense tries to stop me as the batteries of the gps give up half way. Now it is time to get lost, in order to find something...

The sun sets on the horizon, wind turbines swoop, the mangroove stands still. Peace...

The way back flows, no need for senses, no need for maps, no need to trace your steps back. Just flow...

9 hours and 50km later I'm back home, thankful for this life, for this place, for this chance.

This week movies,

This week, I can recommend the following movies,

1. Synecdoche, New York, *****
   
   I will not brag about understanding this movie. I think art is about something like this. I could not consume this film, the story, the photography. I have left it apart to watch it sometime in the future, although not soon.
   


2. Surf's up, ****
   
   I like animation movies a lot. They are masterpieces of digital technique most of the time. This one is not a masterpiece, but it got me for the relax, you have to pursuit your dreams but you have to enjoy the ride, that is the ultimate source of accomplishment, not reaching the dream, feeling of it.
   


3. Choke, ****
   
   Sometimes, I like bizarre stories with an extra go beyond the bizarre twist. This film got to my hands precisely at one of these times. The story of a con-man son to a psychotic woman, Anjelica Houston, and the struggle for love and drive.
   


4. Cloverfield, ****
   
   This is a thriller. Great pace. Awesome storytelling. I am marveled by the storytelling. A scifi, a thriller, a love story. All packed in one and all not told in a straightforward manner. I really liked this film.
   


5. Pineapple Express, ***
   
   Do you remember Cheech and Chong movies? Well, this is something quite similar. Prepare yourself for a weed comedy. Plus there is a lot of times when continuity is just not right, or something just don't match, or you can see a glance of the film crew. Just like in the old Cheech and Chong movies.
   


6. 9, **
   
   As I was preparing to watch 9, my expectations grew. Surely, you can figure the result. I was disappointed. While this film is a masterpiece of animation with great storytelling, there's nothing else to it. At least I could not find it.
   

The eight episode of The Big Bang Theory third season is out there and it is great. Lennard, Raj and Howard go camping for the Leonids and have a not-consiously desired weed experience. Meanwhile, back at home, Sheldon has to overcome his driving issues in order to help Penny.

I love Tsing-Hua

The place is wonderful. As I enter the campus, the city is left behind. Every step taking me deeper into the green. A few minutes pass by and I am surrounded by the most beautiful shades of green.

Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University is located behind the 18 peaks mountain, the place with the highest altitude in Hsinchu City. That is around 100m above the sea level. The NTHU is located in the East District of Hsinchu, some 15km away from the sea shore.

The NTHU covers a small area, 105 hecatereas, if you compare it to state universities back in Mexico or in the United States of America. The campus has some fifty buildings in total, three beautiful natural ponds plus an artificial pond serving the experimental and teaching nuclear reactor. It also has two gardens, one being the Mei Memorial Garden in honor of the first presiden of the University and the other a butterfly garden, which I have not found yet. There is a 1km trail connecting the Memorial Garden with one of the ponds and you can get to the 18 peak mountain if you take a detour from this trail.

The architecture is magnificent. The buildings are huge; for example, The Institute of Photonics is located at the Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Building which is eight stories high, plus one or two underground levels, and has a footprint of about 3600 square meters. I think the Physics Building at our side is bigger and the Chemistry, the Engineering and the Management buildings are for sure bigger than ours, can you believe it?

Inside the campus, it is possible to find anything you could need on any given day. There are three food courts catering all kind of cousines, there is even a burrito stall at food court on top of the bookshop and below the international students center. I have seen a dvd rental shop, a copy shop, a fancy coffe shop, and a great, cozy coffe shop and second hand bookshop where people gather to play jazz or watch a movie on the evenings. The owner of the latter is a cool phylosopher who also plays the piano.

There is a convenience store somewhere near the dormitories. That is another amazing story. I am told that every first year student has a dorm room secured as soon as he enters NTHU and if he wants to pay for it. Alas, first year students have to serve as cleaning crews for the departments they are associated. Professional cleaners just do the toiletts of our buildings. Postdocs and students have to clean their own laboratories or offices. The offices of professors and the common areas are cleaned by the first year students.
Also, there are living facilities for some of the faculty; the ones hired in the beginnings of NTHU, some 50 years ago, have nice houses besides the campus; the latter hires have apartments at high rise buildings inside the campus. It seems it is a tradition here to die in office, like it happens with faculty in Mexico. Thus, the more recent hires get a monetary compensation for housing instead of an incampus apartment.

I know UNAM has a larger campus and an ecological reserve. The feeling is not just the same. Here, like in the Slovenska Academia Vied and the Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan, I am part of the greenery. I walk it every day. Yesterday, on my way to my office, I saw a blue crane or gull or stork eating a huge worm just by the arts garden and its rock sculptures, I saw an old couple feeding bread tothe white-orange and black carpes at the smallest of the three ponds and I saw my first white crane catching a black carpe on the same pond. Everyday, the Physics Building looms in the horizon, like a castle behind its river seen from the nearby forest.

Every day. Walking NTHU is feeling the green, watching the faces of the students talk, smile, enjoy. Enjoy! Furthermore, NTHU is a part of the community, the mother teaching her son how to play piano at the communal pianos in the music building; the adult ladies doing taichi and chikung every morning by the badmington court. the young men and woman learning how to swim at the swimming pool behind EE&CS; the old couples walking the trails for excercise and then relaxing at the benches by the ponds; the newly weds taking pictures at the shrine in the middle of the main pond... well, I guess you get my idea.

That is what a university is about, at least for me. I love Tsing-Hua.