Flora and Listening Comprehension

Yesterday morning I did boring things like: get an identity number, open a postal account, pay my tuition. It was a nice rainy day, and I managed to keep hold of my umbrella. But aside from that, there isn't so much to say. I thought I'd post a few pictures of interesting flora therefore. I am going to make an effort to learn the names of some trees and plants while I'm here. Many have labels and many others are recognizable on google. I haven't learned the names of these so far, but here are some photos.

Soft Young Leaf, Maokong

Mystery Fruit, Still Green, Maokong

Tree "Beans"

Inside, Oily and Black

Starry Pink Flowers, Knocked Down by the Storm

The Tree They Grew On

Large Yellow Fruit (Double Fist Size)

So far I don't know what any of these are. The big yellow fruit was kind of stinky, making me think that maybe it's not edible? If it were Beida, the fact that no one was out harvesting them would be a good indicator that it's not edible. Here, though, who knows.

In the afternoon, I went to a lecture by Professor Shang Wei on visual representations of Hong Lou Meng's Prospect Garden (Da Guan Yuan). It was very interesting and edifying, though all in Chinese. I could mostly follow his points (the pictures and his occasional code-switching helped). But after a rather long lecture, there were some very long and involved questions during which my brain switched off. I didn't feel comfortable getting up and leaving, but I spent the time composing an account, in Chinese, of what he had said. No reason to do that, it's just good practice.

After Blood Lake Talk, Academia Sinica

In the morning, I made my want to Academia Sinica (for the first time) to hear my Princeton classmate give a talk on Buddhist/Daoist hells involving lakes of blood. That was more fun than you would think. It was also all in Chinese, but very well organized and with a generous distribution of written materials.

Although it was very far from my field of specialization, it was a good model for me of how to give a talk in Chinese. She started with a provocative question, went on to discuss previous scholarship on the topic, gave a careful but lively discussion of the two main texts she was looking at, and then used that discussion to answer the question from the beginning. I was really impressed. There was also a long and involved question session at the end, showing that her real actual audience was also very engaged.

In the afternoon, I went to school and got the results of the placement test. I was a little surprised at the level they placed me into, having thought it might be a bit higher. But I'm sure they know what they're about, and goodness knows spending a bit more time on my own work and a bit less on class prep would not be at all a bad thing. Also naturally my reading ability outstrips my speaking and writing, which they probably realize.

Two days in a row I have had delicious sushi from the Gongguan subway station. There is a tiny little store that sells it by the piece, so cheap! (Fifty cents per piece or less.) And amazing sushi, just meltingly good. Also interestingly various. Today I had two pieces of salmon, one of shrimp, one of egg, one with seaweed salad on top, and one mochi. It was an incredible unbelievable mochi, practically a different species from the ones you get in Asian grocery stores. It was a party in my mouth. I am tempted to get lunch from there every day. I'll put a picture soon.