The Little White House- a community shed

I set myself on a mission of investigating what is in the neighbourhood after we moved to Taipei. Every time when I am out running errands, I take a lane or alley that I haven't explored as long as it takes me to my destination. A couple of weeks ago I came across a small workshop-looking place full of woodworking tools. The people there on the day told me that the place is called The Little White House. It's a community shed, where local residents go and hang out while working on projects such as soap making with recycled oil, glass cutting and woodworking.

Sep 30, 2018 James doing woodwork at the community shed

All the tools and materials at the shed are donated by locals and everything is accessible to the public. A volunteer or teacher will be there for the project/workshop of the session and he or she will assess if the user is demonstrating knowledge of care and safety. 

I thought the idea is great and very similar to the Men's Shed in Melbourne, except the Men's Shed is really just for men. Living in an apartment means James can't set up a proper woodworking bench or using big cutting machines. At the Little White House he can have access to many tools and a space to work on his project. He definitely had a ball at the Little White House today while making a wooden tablet stand. 

San Diao Ling, Taiwan

I found the group of 'Tuesday Sketching' on the group facebook page of USK Taipei. The introvert me would never have had the courage to ask a group of strangers if I could tag along with them for a sketch outing. But urban sketching has changed me (or I am willing to change when it comes to sketching?!) and USK Seattle sketchers taught me that following a group of local sketchers is the best way to know a city. So, I asked on the facebook page and someone replied.

'Tuesday Sketching' is a group of sketchers who met on USK Taipei's outings in the past. They wanted to have more opportunities to sketch and meet with each other so took initiatives to form a subgroup and members meet every Tuesday. They don't have a facebook page. The only social media they use is a Messenger group. Once you participate in their sketch outings for three times, you can ask to join their Messenger group and find out where and when they are meeting.

I thought it was a bit secretive and exclusive because there was no way for me to find out where the group was meeting. I only found out about this group by reading the posts on USK Taipei and stumbled on someone's post with hashtag 週二畫畫. Most of the members are friends or classmates of the existing members. I had no connections with any of the members and that fact sort of surprised them when I turned up :)

This Tuesday I went with the group to sketch at San Diao Ling, a tiny town located in Geelong. San Diao Ling used to be a mining town so many trains would stop here to collect and deliver mining related goods. Since the mines closed, the town is dying. I was told that the only local primary school got closed a while ago and the youngest person in the town is in her 40s. Now the town sits quietly next to the train line, waiting for tourists to pay her some attention.

I sketched the structure of an abandoned suspension bridge, which was used for wheelbarrows carrying coal. It's now surrounded by some houses used as airbnb. I wonder what the structure looks like inside the houses.

On the way back I sketched the couple sitting across from me. I thought about putting on some colours after getting home but decided to leave it as the way it is.

Linsen Park, Taipei, Taiwan

Moon Festival is coming up this weekend. The holiday has another name: Mid Autumn Festival, meaning we are now in the middle of autumn. One might think that means here in Taiwan the weather is cool. Quite the opposite. We have been having cloudless sunny days with 32 -34 degrees Celsius this week. It's the Autumn Tiger, dry heat that comes in Autumn. During the Autumn Tiger, the best time of the day is the afternoon, when the sun sits low in the sky but still bright and the breeze picks up under big trees.

NTU Sports Centre

On Sunday James decided to try out the indoor swimming pool at National Taiwan University, which is pretty close to our apartment. I don't like swimming much but decided to tag along.

The sports centre at NTU was surely busy. There were various classes in session, including flamenco dance, ballroom dance, table tennis, Squash...and so on. I heard loud yelling as soon as I went into the building, so I followed the sound to find out what was happening after James went into the pool. It was Kendo in action! I have only seen Kendo in Japanese comic books and didn't know players have to yell throughout a game. Kendo looked fun but I prefer to watch on the side instead of being hit with a bamboo stick.

Gong Guan Riverside Park

Have you ever felt that some days you just have to get out of the house? Today was one of those days for me. It has been raining since we moved to Taipei. At first it was just afternoon thunderstorms and then it turned into heavy rain for a few days. Finally, today the sun came out and stayed, with nice breezes.

I spent my day sketching at Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall before heading back home to finish some chores. After James came home from his Mandarin class, I dragged him out to have a walk along the riverside park nearby. Reluctantly, James gathered his fishing gear and came with me. While he was looking for a fishing spot down by the river, I sketched the people who probably also wanted to enjoy the dry evening out here.

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Last time when I visited the Memorial Hall I was a primary school student, I think. After getting my renewed Taiwanese passport at the Bureau of Consular Affairs, I took a short walk over to see if the Memorial Hall has changed. If anything, the Hall feels much smaller. Even the main plaza seems smaller than I remembered.


While waiting for my passport, I tried out Carol Hsiung's technique of drawing. I stumped upon Carol's flickr page a few weeks ago and really like the way she leaves blank for views to fill in. It was a bit like doodling when I tried it today but nonetheless a fun way to draw.

My new neighbourhood

This is my new neighbourhood in Taipei. No, I didn't get the hair color wrong, and yes, the woman at the back is wearing a hijab.

When I moved to Australia in 2007, it wasn't common to see foreigners in Taiwan. Perhaps some in Taipei but definitely not that many in the rest of Taiwan. Now foreign faces are everywhere in Taipei and even in my hometown Tainan I see many western faces hanging out like locals.

On my way home I saw this scene and had to stop to sketch it. The little boy is wearing a uniform vest from a local kinder. It seems a great snapshot which captures the diversity of people in Taipei.