Playing the drums at Utheatre
2010-07-20
Day 2
Who knew exploring Taiwan could be so tiring? Had a looong day learning about Utheatre and drums, exploring jioufen old street, and then tasting delicious Taiwanese foods at jilong night market. Short and sweet post because we're waking up at 515am tomorrow morning, heading to yilan!
7/20 Fritz Group Day2---Play drums with the UTheatre
It is our second day during this camp. Let me talked about somrthing happened this morning. After the wonderful breakfast, we rode the bus to go to Muzha in order to visit Utheatre, a famous theater to perform some skills of drum also combined with the elemente of a play. At first, all of us are not quite familiar with Utheatre. Hence, they played some episodes of their recordings for us. The video displays the inner culture of Taiwan, which is amazing to show the perfect combinition of arts and martial elements. Under the surface is the performers’ hard working and diligence, Not only entering the mountains ande forests but also getting close to people’s settlementand temple, those performers dig up the pure and authentic inner culture of Taiwan.
After the one and half hour introduction of Utheatre, it’s the time for us to practice those skills and performance showed in the video. The first thing we learned is trying to focus on our minds to be peaceful and blank, which is implied by the word “shen” referred to the status we tried to achieve. Moreover, we learned some dancing paces, which are the repeated swings of left-right and afterwards or backwards. With several times practices, we added the actions of our hands, lifting up and down which also repeated once and once again. Separately, the actions of feet or hands are prettey easy, yet it was not easy any more when we did the actions at the same time. The teacher repeated reminding us of our paces or hands, but I still mixed up the directions sometimes. The music played again and again and we practiced the same movements for endless times. With the tempo changed, slowly or fast, I tried focused not only on my paces but also on my peaceful spirits.
What came after the dancing course was the most exciting part---to play the drum. Away from my imagination, the skill of drum was quite hard to learn. Something basic to do before playing the drum is to do some exercise---to stretch out our bodies, exactly. Only with relaxed bodies can we performe the skill to the best. The postures, the ankles and the strength would be the factors for a good performance. After a while, the teacher finally taught us how to play a song. The former part was quite simple, yet the last part was totally another thing. The tempo became more complicated with the song proceeding, and I felt a little bit dizzy for memorizing the complex song. However, after practicing for several times, we really finish the performance by ourselves which gave me the sence of achievement. How wonderful it is for me to understand I also have the potential to do a drum performance. Ha~~
After the one and half hour introduction of Utheatre, it’s the time for us to practice those skills and performance showed in the video. The first thing we learned is trying to focus on our minds to be peaceful and blank, which is implied by the word “shen” referred to the status we tried to achieve. Moreover, we learned some dancing paces, which are the repeated swings of left-right and afterwards or backwards. With several times practices, we added the actions of our hands, lifting up and down which also repeated once and once again. Separately, the actions of feet or hands are prettey easy, yet it was not easy any more when we did the actions at the same time. The teacher repeated reminding us of our paces or hands, but I still mixed up the directions sometimes. The music played again and again and we practiced the same movements for endless times. With the tempo changed, slowly or fast, I tried focused not only on my paces but also on my peaceful spirits.
What came after the dancing course was the most exciting part---to play the drum. Away from my imagination, the skill of drum was quite hard to learn. Something basic to do before playing the drum is to do some exercise---to stretch out our bodies, exactly. Only with relaxed bodies can we performe the skill to the best. The postures, the ankles and the strength would be the factors for a good performance. After a while, the teacher finally taught us how to play a song. The former part was quite simple, yet the last part was totally another thing. The tempo became more complicated with the song proceeding, and I felt a little bit dizzy for memorizing the complex song. However, after practicing for several times, we really finish the performance by ourselves which gave me the sence of achievement. How wonderful it is for me to understand I also have the potential to do a drum performance. Ha~~
From the most peaceful place to the most noisiest place of Taiwan
You Ren Shen Gu / 優人神鼓
Today, our main event was a visit to 優人神鼓 (You Ren Shen Gu), an increasingly famous art in Taiwan. The main purpose of these drums (in my opinion) is to calm the soul, rest the mind, and train your body, understanding your soul; mind and body at a greater level. You Ren Shen Gu has 打鼓 (drumming), 打坐 (meditation) and 打拳 (martial arts) as part of their training/learning and these compo. We experienced the drumming and meditation part of You Ren Shen Gu.
Before drumming, the instructor had us mediate in order to calm our minds, souls and souls before playing the drums ~ So quiet that you can 'hear' the silence
Everyone was eager to play (or smash for some that needed to release some stress) the drums
My body’s response to the beats of You Ren Shen Gu was they removed the excessive thoughts occupying my mind and focused me on playing the (right) beats (in the correct order). However, it was pretty tiring maintaining the drumming stance, playing the right beats and being at peace all at the same time.
Ji Long Miao Ko Ye Shi / 基隆廟口夜市
Later during the day, we visited Ji Long Miao Ko Ye Shi, 基隆廟口夜市 (A place full of AMAZING food). It was very packed and full of many people despite it being humid, hot and sticky. However, when we started having our first meal (Ding Bian Cuo), I had a nosebleed. It was not the most enjoyable moment but the thing I got out of it was the warmth of my fellow Taiwanese compatriots!
Ding Bian Cuo 鼎邊趖
After the incident, the groups separated into two’s and three’s and was allowed to freely roam the streets of Ji Long Ye Shi. Connie and I played a soon-to-be feature of all night markets in Taiwan – The Claw (A machine/game where we catch soft toys). This can be found in every night market these days and it is attempted by many, many people of various age groups (Mainly people in their 20s or lower). Being the experienced player I am, Connie and I won a soft toy each, spending less than $60 (NTD) together.
(More soft toys to come…!)
JLo (After 12am)
破土
哭喊了一聲於是來到大地
血液裡的根
傳承自那古遠的生命
心靈上的原鄉
卻只能在大霧中迷航
我們是否在同一條船
或者我們只是膚色一樣
活在當下
才能享受剎那的寧靜
觀照自我
才能發覺自我的存在
切斷阻絕逃離
思考誘惑慾望
提升自我或許也不是那麼重要的事了
沉默旋轉行走
這是優人神鼓尋找自我的方式活在當下
一棒一棒
挖掘我們心中的熱情
面對自己
而不是面對鏡中的軀體
我們來自不同的角落
但是我們一起經歷這段旅程
慢慢踏上根的成年禮
尋找借住在軀體的心
持續
繼續在這塊土地上
尋找所謂的自我價值
Day 2 (7/20) - Fritz's Group
Today was really an eye-opener. Another long day but it was an enjoyable one.
(Eleanor is going to talk about the drumming so I'm not going to talk much about it. All I'm going to say is - WOW!)
Anyway.
Jioufen Old Street was, for me, the event of the day, although it didn't start off well but it did get better.
Upon arrival, I thought - "Oh no, not Taiwan Storyland again!" The thought kind of ruined the entire visit, blinding everything around me. What made the visit worse was dodging the motorcycles and trucks which tried to flatten the pedestrians when squeezing through the alley. With the humidity and heat, I almost wanted to turn back and head for the kiosk next the bus stop to end this nonsense once and for all.
However, ice with green beans, red beans, "big beans", and chewy cubes stopped me from turning back - since chewy cubes sounded more interesting that drinking cold water under the kiosk. After my first spoon of chewy cubes, I instantly knew that I've made the right decision. What's magical about these chewy cubes is that they become more chewy if you soak they in ice water - sounds quite silly but I never knew that before today! The taste of green, red and "big" beans complimented each other. It was delicious - 10 out of 10. While eating I explained the magic of Chinese characters to Frank. For example, 地瓜 - 地 means earth and 瓜 means melon. So 地瓜 is a melon in the ground - hence sweet potato! Technically speaking, sweet potato isn't a melon, but I'm pretty sure that ancient Chinese didn't know that.
After the ice, I felt refreshed and ready for the heat outside. The ice kind of dropped the temperature by a degree or two of the surrounding but it didn't last long. The magic wore off and I was pouring again after 10 minutes. The free cold drinks along the alleys kept me going. Although hot and humid but it was much . Feeling much better, I began examining my surrounding. The observation struck me with awe. The Old Street didn't feel like "Taiwan Storyland". It's more real - duh - but I felt more comfortable in this Old Street than I did in Storyland. Most probably because my grandparents - on my mother's side - came from Keelung.
Eventually David got bored walking with me and left me to observe some cute dogs. After a few seconds I got bored too and headed for the kiosk with a cold 7-11 water in my hand. I sat on the second floor of the kiosk and watched the sunset. (Here I have to compliment the directors of this camp for putting this visit towards the end of the day -three cheers ***) The sunset was mesmerizing. No words could ever describe how I felt. So to compensate for it, here's a photo:
Oh, by the way, I saw a rat. The gutter was too dark so I couldn't take a photo. Oh and apparently there's a condom shop, I didn't see it - for more information and photos ask Janice about it (Source: Daniel Texas).
After the Old Street, we went to the night-market. For some reasons I tend to associate "night-market" to dodgy things. Buy anyhow, we all know that the night-market has nothing illegal but boundary pushing Prado purses. I've only been to two different night-markets - 通化街 and 士林 - and JiLong is much bigger than both of them. But JiLong Night-market is like a kaleidoscope image, you see a lot of stuff but it's just the same things all over the place.
I had a cup of disgusting "Pearl Milk Tea". It was way too diluted and the pearls tasted as if they've been lying in the fridge for too long. The "Bubble Ice" was good - I think the chocolate flavour was the best. We then shared some mini-Taiwanese Sausages with garlic dices. The "Nutritious Sandwich" was nutritious (fat - a lot, about 60%, protein - two slices of ham and a quarter of suspicious dark looking eggs, fiber - some tomato and cucumber) but it definitely wasn't healthy - David even refused to eat it. I was too hungry to think about what I was eating.
(Christine and Bubble Ice)
I tried the "rainbow pearl tea". It's like "pearl milk tea" but instead of having plain black pearls, you get blue, red, green and white pearls. They don't taste differently to the regular ones. The only thing I managed to discover was that certain coloured pearls are more chewy than the other coloured ones. Curiosity didn't kill the cat but it killed my stomach tonight, I had to buy some Indian roti because I've never had roti before (not sure about the spelling of "roti". Roti is a type of Indian bread). After receiving the mammoth roll, I instantly knew that I'm going to bed with a full stomach tonight. Since I was pretty full after the sandwich (more like a sub to me) and the sausages, I wanted to save the roti as a reward for myself after finishing blogging. However, I couldn't resist Even's request and took a bite for her to see what's inside this gigantic roll. Miraculously, I finished the roti.
The bus ride back to the hotel was really funny. Shu's camera was apparently busted beacuse of a photo of吉安. Poor 吉安, Lev had quite a time ridiculing him (though I have to confess I took part in the laughing!)
Sweaty, sticky and stinky, I dragged myself into the room and started blogging 30min ago.
Thanks to Even, I don't have the roti to handle now - three cheers to Even ***.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's voluntary work at the international fest in YiLan. It's definitely going to be exciting.
(Oh by the way, I can't upload the video which I said I would upload today. Something's wrong with the video uploading system. Though I have no idea how 吉安 managed to upload his MV, I'll ask him tomorrow.)
(Eleanor is going to talk about the drumming so I'm not going to talk much about it. All I'm going to say is - WOW!)
Anyway.
Jioufen Old Street was, for me, the event of the day, although it didn't start off well but it did get better.
Upon arrival, I thought - "Oh no, not Taiwan Storyland again!" The thought kind of ruined the entire visit, blinding everything around me. What made the visit worse was dodging the motorcycles and trucks which tried to flatten the pedestrians when squeezing through the alley. With the humidity and heat, I almost wanted to turn back and head for the kiosk next the bus stop to end this nonsense once and for all.
However, ice with green beans, red beans, "big beans", and chewy cubes stopped me from turning back - since chewy cubes sounded more interesting that drinking cold water under the kiosk. After my first spoon of chewy cubes, I instantly knew that I've made the right decision. What's magical about these chewy cubes is that they become more chewy if you soak they in ice water - sounds quite silly but I never knew that before today! The taste of green, red and "big" beans complimented each other. It was delicious - 10 out of 10. While eating I explained the magic of Chinese characters to Frank. For example, 地瓜 - 地 means earth and 瓜 means melon. So 地瓜 is a melon in the ground - hence sweet potato! Technically speaking, sweet potato isn't a melon, but I'm pretty sure that ancient Chinese didn't know that.
After the ice, I felt refreshed and ready for the heat outside. The ice kind of dropped the temperature by a degree or two of the surrounding but it didn't last long. The magic wore off and I was pouring again after 10 minutes. The free cold drinks along the alleys kept me going. Although hot and humid but it was much . Feeling much better, I began examining my surrounding. The observation struck me with awe. The Old Street didn't feel like "Taiwan Storyland". It's more real - duh - but I felt more comfortable in this Old Street than I did in Storyland. Most probably because my grandparents - on my mother's side - came from Keelung.
Eventually David got bored walking with me and left me to observe some cute dogs. After a few seconds I got bored too and headed for the kiosk with a cold 7-11 water in my hand. I sat on the second floor of the kiosk and watched the sunset. (Here I have to compliment the directors of this camp for putting this visit towards the end of the day -three cheers ***) The sunset was mesmerizing. No words could ever describe how I felt. So to compensate for it, here's a photo:
Oh, by the way, I saw a rat. The gutter was too dark so I couldn't take a photo. Oh and apparently there's a condom shop, I didn't see it - for more information and photos ask Janice about it (Source: Daniel Texas).
After the Old Street, we went to the night-market. For some reasons I tend to associate "night-market" to dodgy things. Buy anyhow, we all know that the night-market has nothing illegal but boundary pushing Prado purses. I've only been to two different night-markets - 通化街 and 士林 - and JiLong is much bigger than both of them. But JiLong Night-market is like a kaleidoscope image, you see a lot of stuff but it's just the same things all over the place.
I had a cup of disgusting "Pearl Milk Tea". It was way too diluted and the pearls tasted as if they've been lying in the fridge for too long. The "Bubble Ice" was good - I think the chocolate flavour was the best. We then shared some mini-Taiwanese Sausages with garlic dices. The "Nutritious Sandwich" was nutritious (fat - a lot, about 60%, protein - two slices of ham and a quarter of suspicious dark looking eggs, fiber - some tomato and cucumber) but it definitely wasn't healthy - David even refused to eat it. I was too hungry to think about what I was eating.
(Christine and Bubble Ice)I tried the "rainbow pearl tea". It's like "pearl milk tea" but instead of having plain black pearls, you get blue, red, green and white pearls. They don't taste differently to the regular ones. The only thing I managed to discover was that certain coloured pearls are more chewy than the other coloured ones. Curiosity didn't kill the cat but it killed my stomach tonight, I had to buy some Indian roti because I've never had roti before (not sure about the spelling of "roti". Roti is a type of Indian bread). After receiving the mammoth roll, I instantly knew that I'm going to bed with a full stomach tonight. Since I was pretty full after the sandwich (more like a sub to me) and the sausages, I wanted to save the roti as a reward for myself after finishing blogging. However, I couldn't resist Even's request and took a bite for her to see what's inside this gigantic roll. Miraculously, I finished the roti.
The bus ride back to the hotel was really funny. Shu's camera was apparently busted beacuse of a photo of吉安. Poor 吉安, Lev had quite a time ridiculing him (though I have to confess I took part in the laughing!)
Sweaty, sticky and stinky, I dragged myself into the room and started blogging 30min ago.
Thanks to Even, I don't have the roti to handle now - three cheers to Even ***.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's voluntary work at the international fest in YiLan. It's definitely going to be exciting.
(Oh by the way, I can't upload the video which I said I would upload today. Something's wrong with the video uploading system. Though I have no idea how 吉安 managed to upload his MV, I'll ask him tomorrow.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)