Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Cascade Falls

Last Monday was my oft-delayed progress evaluation in Amharic, and the results, as expected, could not be described as pretty. To no one's surprise, including my own, I'm far behind where I ought to be at this point in my language training. Fortunately, the credible excuses are many. There was the month-long government shutdown that began just before Christmas, which served to bring all classes to a sudden halt. Then there's the issue of my mental and physical health - regarding the former, seven hours of neuropsychological testing and counseling done two months ago has resulted in a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder with Anxiety and Depression. Finally, there was the fact that I wasn't doing very well with the first teacher we were assigned. Due to "a lack of resources" (i.e. no textbooks or lab materials), we spent six months mostly discussing the finer points of Amharic grammar, while being urged to go online to locate our own listening and reading materials, and to "find Amharic-speaking friends" to help us with speaking.

A couple of Fridays ago, I woke up at 5:30 after having gotten little sleep due to worrying over my progress (or lack thereof) in Amharic class. I resolved to make the best of the situation by getting to FSI early, driving to work instead of taking the shuttle, in order to work on a presentation about the merits and demerits of coffee and sugar. Unfortunately, while en route, another car pulled up alongside mine, and the driver pointed out that I had a flat tire. I managed to limp back home without further damage, and eventually had the tire repaired, but the day was shot. A metaphor? 

Well, we now have a new teacher who seems to be focusing more on speaking the language. In addition, we also found out that there are (and have always been) conversation and grammar texts available. So with less than four months remaining until the end of training exam, it's almost like starting over. Of course, in the end, success or failure will depend on my efforts, and to be honest, I haven't always been the most ትጉህ ተማሪ. But, hey, I'm Anxious and Depressed, so...

A tombstone engraved in Amharic, waiting to be set up in a local cemetery. Another metaphor?

Oh well, whatever happens, will happen. There are times I wish I were back in Japan or Taiwan teaching English. That is, until I read articles like this one that appeared recently in The Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ. Actually, I don't recall encountering that many "J-hunters" during the times I was living in the country, though there were certainly many instances of the "gaijin stare", the look given to fellow foreigners to let them know their presence is seriously interfering in the starer's "I'm living in Japan!" fantasy. I had an American coworker in Yokkaichi 四日市 who would deliberately give me false directions to bars or hiking trails in order to keep those places to himself. My Japanese skills (especially kanji 漢字 recognition) were better than his, so I was always able to find them, much to his consternation.

A mid-March snowfall. There's been a lot more snow this time around than during our previous stints in the D.C. area

In Taiwan, the tendency on having a "more Taiwanese experience" is just as pronounced, usually expressed in misguided proclamations of how much the waiguoren enjoys washing down their stinky tofu 臭豆腐 with cans of Taiwan Beer while pontificating on the significance of local election results in rural Yunlin County 雲林縣. However, having already ranted on numerous occasions on the pages of this blog regarding certain types of Westerners who reside in Taiwan, I will write no further on the subject, at least for this post.

My daughter has recently taken up baking. These cinnamon buns were made from a recipe book that Amber received for her birthday. The results were delicious!

That doesn't mean I won't comment on Taiwan's capital, thanks to another recent article, this one from  the Taiwan News 英文台灣日報. Over the years I've endured numerous comparisons (by Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese alike) between Taipei 台北 and Tōkyō 東京. Yes, they're both Asian capital cities and home to millions of people, but Japan's mega-city dwarfs Taipei in terms of population, restaurants, entertainment, shopping and so on (it isn't Taipei's fault - the sheer size of Japan's Kantō region 関東地方 is immense, with a population double that of all of Taiwan). I've always maintained a more accurate comparison is better made with Japan's "third city" (after Tokyo and Ōsaka 大阪), Nagoya 名古屋. Well, whaddya know? According to the 2019 Quality of Living City Ranking by Mercer Management Consulting, Taipei ranks 9th in the Asia Pacific region (84th in the world), behind Tokyo (49th in the world), Kōbe 神戸 (49), Yokohama 横浜 (55), Osaka (58) and...Nagoya, coming in at No. 62. Don't get me wrong, I like both Taipei and Nagoya, but confirmation does leave a sweet taste in one's mouth.

A traffic accident between a passenger car and a DC Metro bus in Bethesda, Maryland

Thanks to the kindness of some friends who recently purchased a second car and need a temporary parking spot for their older vehicle until they sell the latter later this spring, we have temporary access to a Mercury Mariner SUV, and are no longer restricted to public transportation or the occasional rental car. Taking advantage of this, and the imminent onset of spring, this Saturday I drove into Maryland to do some hiking in Patapsco Valley State Park. The day was sunny, though a lot chillier compared to the previous day - 8°C/46°F on Saturday morning vs. 22°C/72°F on Friday evening. In what must be yet another Amharic training-related metaphor, I spent more than a half-hour trying to find the correct trail before finally getting on track:

I walked on several trails while at the park, one of which traveled along the edges of a couple of large, open fields:

At one point I came across the remains of an old two-story house. Perched within the ruins was a pair of large vultures, in what would be the only significant wildlife sighting of the day:

An admission of ignorance: I've always thought of bamboo as being something representative of Asia, due to the proliferation of the trees in places where I lived in Japan and Taiwan, and through the usages of bamboo shoots in both Chinese and Japanese cuisine (even though I personally don't care for the taste). As a result, I was surprised to learn that bamboo is also native to the southeastern United States. At one point during Saturday's hike I came across a small but dense bamboo grove:

One of the highlights of the state park, and the one that attracts the most visitors is, the Cascade Falls. The stream course drops 15 feet (4.6 meters) into a pool, though the falls themselves weren't as impressive as my hiking guidebook led me to believe:

From the falls I made my way down to the Patapsco River and Swinging Bridge. The current metal-and-wire structure is a replacement for one that was destroyed by a hurricane in the early 1970's:

From the bridge it was back to the falls...:

...before the final 1.3 mile (2.1 kilometers) slog along a ridge that seemed endless as it undulated down and up steep draws and made sharp turns at tight switchbacks:

More remains, mysterious in that there were no signs explaining why they were there or what had happened to them. Even my guidebook made no mention of the structures:

Thanks to my initial wanderings, what was supposed to taken only three hours actually lasted nearly 4½. I also have a feeling that I ended up walking a lot more than the 6.9 miles (11.1 kilometers) listed in my guidebook's trip description. But despite the initial setbacks, I ended successfully completing the course. Hopefully this will be a more positive metaphor...